A Royal Referendum - How would you vote?

[Nikhedonia]

I know that this wouldn't be how it would work, but please humour me

If there was a referendum where the options were to either keep the Royal Family or get rid (after the Queen dies) how would you vote?

(Ignoring the fact that this isn't how it would work and if Brexit has gone like this, doing a deal with the Royal Family could be just as painful)

I'm genuinely not sure how I'd vote.

Keep. Do you know how much money they bring in through tourism?

The most visited country in the world us France; and Versailles has many more millions of visitors than any British palace or castle. They did away with their monarchy... quite spectacularly too!

Get rid from me

Accounts if interested www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/sovereign_grant_2018-19_summary_final.pdf

I would want a "keep but reform" option. A massively downgraded royal family Scandinavian style would be fine by me, but if it was a simple keep or get rid with no nuance then I would vote get rid.

Get rid. I find the whole concept of a child having his life mapped out for him from birth obscene.

How can it be conducive to good mental health?

It's too late for Charles, and borderline for William, but let the rest of them grow up with the choice to be a doctor, a shop worker, a dancer, a politician.

Keep it, but pared down which is exactly what Charles is planning for when he’s king.

I would keep as they are an excellent form of soft diplomacy and also great for our tourism industry. However, I think that there needs to be a line drawn under how many people are funded by the state and how many buildings/estates the public funds. I think Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham, Kensington Palace- fine.....but all the other places they need to fund themselves.
And I would agree to maybe funding up to something like people who have ever been up to 5th in line to the throne? So you have to have been very close in line to be funded for life.

But wouldn't we end up with a president as head of state instead? More bloody politicians vying for votes.

Pared right down. Buck House only. All the rest to English Heritage/National Trust.

Buck Palace!

Let the Queen live out her reign, then abolish the monarchy. Sell off all their palaces, properties, country estates, art etc etc. Buckingham palace would make a lovely 5* hotel and the gardens would be a beautiful public park. Replace them with an elected, ceremonial figurehead president, as in Ireland or Germany. If members of the Windsor family wished to stand for election to that role, they should be allowed to do so.

It would be a bit like having a referendum on whether we should keep drinking tea.

I’m not necessarily in favour but feel it’s part of our culture and tradition.

Keep. They cost us nothing compared to the income they generate for the UK. It would be like saying shall we get rid of Big Ben because everyone has a phone that displays the time so what’s the point of having a useless expensive space hogging big old clock. Well hello, people come from all over the world to see it, just like they come to see the palace/changing of the guard/glimpse royals.

Whilst the royals look privileged, they are just a tiny number of people and the amount we spend on them is easily earned back. There are 66 million of us and even if you include minor royals, there are less than 100 of them. It’s not like a society where a special 10% get to be royal. It’s a vanishingly tiny percentage.

Being jealous of royals is also irrational. You want death or kidnap threats against your 4yo when you send him to primary school? You want to be hounded by paps to the extent a car chase kills your mum?

Keep the Queen, although after Boris porogueing government and her support of Prince Andrew has made me question my support of her. After the Queen dies get rid. What is the point of the rest of them. I don't like people who cheat on their partners.

I say keep, but pare down to the bare minimum.

Sell off all their palaces, properties, country estates, art etc etc.

Think about who would buy them...

Get rid

Keep. And whenever they do national polls on this question, it's always a resounding KEEP!

Get rid. The people saying they respect the queen are missing the point of a hereditary monarchy — you don’t get a say, you get whoever’s next in line, whether that’s a well-meaning, hardworking type who takes the job seriously, a Nazi sympathiser or a mendacious apologist for a notorious paedophile. It’s the system that’s the problem. It has no place in a democracy where there’s an ever-widening gap between rich and poor.

@SmiteTheeWithThunderbolts, no, not if you have an Irish-style elected HoS, with pretty much zero political power and the salary of a the highest class of senior civil servant. It’s not appealing to career politicians, and you don’t in fact need to be a politician at all to be nominated — lots of candidates in recent elections haven’t been.

Get rid. I don't think anyone should be someone else's subject.

Keep. I think keep would win

Get rid.

I think that in a national poll right now, 'keep' would win - but that's likely to change after the Queen dies.

Get rid

Keep.
For those advocating selling the Royal Palaces, land & art etc, some belongs to the monarch as opposed to the state.
Would you advocate confiscating stuff that they owned?

Get rid

I'd keep them but massively slimmed down; so only direct heirs are working royals with public funding.