A court in Amsterdam has ordered the Dutch Transport Ministry to reveal the Royal Family's air travel expenditure. All ministries and embassies will have to report how much the ruling House of Orange spent on flights over the past few years.

Full information about the royal use of the government airplane and the booking of commercial flights must be published. Relevant documents released earlier with blanked-out passages will have to be re-published in full.

The court case was sparked by questions in parliament. MPs suspected that the Transport Ministry had misinformed parliament when the actual costs turned out higher than reported earlier.

Active members of the Royal Family, including the queen, receive a government salary, most of which is spent on staff. Other costs incurred by the royals are covered by the national budget. In 2008 the Dutch government spent 133.9 million euros on the monarch and her family.

The queen's salary was 4.2 million euros in 2008, compared with the average Dutch family income of 31,000 euros.

The Dutch government airplane (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, E. Jong/P.Kik)