to want a British republic?

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

I do not see the point in monarchy anymore.

Really, what are they for?

Diplomatic stuff can be done by trained diplomats.

French royal buildings get more tourism than ours.

So what is the point?

[DogsBestFriend]

YANBU but I reckon that we're going to get our arses kicked here for saying it!

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

Well, be called killjoys and unpatriotic at least.

[bubblesincoffee]

Do French Royal buildings really get more tourism than ours?

[asecretlemonadedrinker]

No way do more tourists go to see whatever France has over Buckingham Palace/Windsor etc. etc.

[Gastonladybird]

According to quick hunt - 5m pa to versailles 880k to Windsor and 440k to buck palace (last two last year ). I am not sure what comparable would be if the two royal palaces open all year (don't know abbot Windsor but bp only has limited open) . Doubt it would be a lot more than france.

Oh and I agree op.

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

Even the Tower of London only gets around 2m pa all year.

(I agree Euphemia, but I just wanted to get it out of the way first)

Link to visitor figures for Versailles: french.about.com/library/listening/blce-versailles-translation.htm

Tower of London news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4732056.stm

[bubblesincoffee]

I like the Monarchy, so I think yabu.

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

Well I like my taxes spent on things we need.

[HidingInTheUndergrowth]

asecret Palace of Versailles gets 2.58 million visitors per year while Buckingham palace got a whole 420,000 in 2010.

So yes, the french palaces do get more then us.

[HidingInTheUndergrowth]

Oh and I think the OP is being entirely reasonable. Apparently we are in a time of economic crisis where public sector workers are being thrown out of jobs and we no longer have the funding to pay for care for the elderly so I can't see we should be paying millions to fund an out of date monarchy.

[threefeethighandrising]

Have there been any cuts in funding to the monarchy?

[threefeethighandrising]

YANBU by the way

[tazmin]

yes wouldnt it be lovely to have a president blair/cameron and first lady cherie/samantha. Imagine them swanning round the world looking lovely

bleugh!

[MassagesDeclinedByNetmums]

Taz , it'd be no different to how they behave anyway!

Another YANBU from me

[somethingwitty82]

Outsource the wasters!

[Kewcumber]

I can;t find very recent numbers but 2003 numbers show that the Queens official residences (buck House, WIndsor and holyrood) had 2m visitors and Historic royal palces (includes Tower of London, Hampton Court, Kensington Palace and the Banqueting House at Whitehall) had over 3m.

You;re not really using visitor numbers to justify keeping or losing the Royal family are you? Seriously?!

Better would be the cost of equivalent countries diplomatic corps and over seas visits compared to ours. And no I can't be arsed to look for it as I don;t much care either way.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

YABU if you think 'Britain' would ever be a republic. The Scots and the Welsh wouldn't want any part of it and the Northern Irish would have something new to argue about. So it would be a English Republic - which sounds like a bloody awful idea.

[HHLimbo]

I like the royals too, so I wouldn't chop off their heads or anything.

But taxes should be spent on things we need. OP, YANBU, let's have a Republic!

[LilBB]

YANBU. What is the point of the monarchy? Why are Kate and Wills in Canada? Why do we pay for security of Beatrice and Eugenie? Why do Prince and Princess Michael Whoever They Are only pay a peppercorn rent for their Kensington Palace residence? Why do we pay for Andrew to swan about and hang around with shady characters? Don't even get me started on fucking Carol Middleton and that carriage at Ascot.

Surely even if visitor numbers dropped we would still save money? Other republican countries manage to forge relationships with other countries so whh couldn't we?

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

FWIW the Crown Estates contribute millions each year to the Exchequer. The civil list funds the Queen and Prince Charles get are mostly to cover offical engagements, pay staff, travel costs, upkeep various official buildings etc. - if some government department were to take over hosting visiting presidents, for example, the taxpayer would still be picking up the expense account. Prince Charles was in the news last week for having received an extra £300k from the taxpayer but having paid £900k extra in tax back. Expenses of minor royals are funded by the Queen

[Icoulddoitbetter]

YANBU. We really don't need them in this day and age. Chances of us becoming a republic are pretty slim though. I would love to see the government make it a serious suggestion just to see the response. Can you imagine the DM headlines???????!

[Chipotle]

With regard to the Versailles v m Palace visiting numbers... Per annum isn't a very good method of comparing when Buckingham Palace is only open a couple of months a year.

[kaid100]

Who would we want to be President?

[VforViennetta]

Imagine how many visitors we would get if we opened up all royal residences to visitors and slung the royals into a council house in Bromley, frigging millions. YANBU, why on earth should they have so much wealth now, just because some of their ancestors were a bit fecking uppity and proclaimed everything to be theirs.