AIBU to think Harry and Meghan are taking the piss?

[ohymygodbethenny]

How are people not more outraged? And no, tourists do not visit the UK specifically because of the royal family.

"This year, 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain"

@Bisset I take your point, but this is more recent. I do think that I was previously annoyed at William's spending aswell.

While each King or Queen afterwards owns the property

The legal entity of ‘the crown’ owns it, not the queen. You seem incapable of distinguishing the difference.

however if the monarchy were abolished, the property reverts to the current King or Queen

No this is absolutely not the case.

Prince Charles earns money from the Duchy of Cornwall Estate (a farm where he collects rent and under which brand he grows/produces sells organic products).

The Duchy sells leaseson estate properties, as well as collects rents. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that raised more money than the profits from the food range.

One house I liked the look of was around £300-400k mark - for a 37 year lease!

I dont agree with the idea of a Royal Famiy. Sadly I do not have a vote or a say. This is not a democratic country

@bandara I think because harry and meghan were offered an appartment in kensington palace, and they insisted on having FIVE houses knocked into one for three people. It seems excessive to many

The bill would have been just as high to sort them an apartment at Kensington. They were never going to stay in the 2 bed cottage Harry has had since William and Kate moved into 1A.

They’d have had to do rejigging at Kensington to have an apartment and there’s a high chance that would have involved the Gloucester’s moving to a smaller apartment (was considered when W&K were moving) which would have seen them absolutely slated or potentially rejigging of apartments 9 and/or 10 and the inevitable Diana comparisons.

Windsor is a good place for the lower ranked royals - Edward and Sophie, Andrew & now Harry and Meghan - who still need an element of security. Also unlike William and Kate they’ll not be moving into any of the “big” houses so if they are going to renovate somewhere it’s better to be somewhere that will last them until they die (or emigrate).

The Monarch doesn’t have to abide by the law - s/he IS the law

Or to put it another way the monarch's above the law, which may work just fine with a reasonably conscientious one such as Elizabeth II

Now imagine what might happen if we had a monarch who considered the expectations of common law onerous, and not something they wished to observe

BTW it's interesting that the Crown Estates have a whisleblowing hotline, for the reporting of concerns concerns around "fraud, bribery and similar matters" - inspired by the managing Board's commitment to transparency and accountability perhaps?

The properties were not sold to parliament.
Just the management of them.
The Queen inherited them when her father died..
30 years ago some Barristers looked into it .. it is held in trust by an act of parliament....

@lyralalalaa fair points, but why knock fove houses into one, at someone else's expense. That still seems escessive to me

*five houses

The level of stupidity displayed on this thread is mind blowing.

Was it 5 houses? I thought it was one house that'd been converted into 5 apartments and needed reconverting?

Slightly off topic but think Frogmore unappealing. Imagine sitting out in your rural frog infested garden with the planes going over. They’ve soundproofed windows but how do you do the garden....

Windsor is a good place for the lower ranked royals - Edward and Sophie ...

Ah, yes - Edward and Sophie, current occupants of the largest private home of any of the Queen's four children

I realise they had to be bribed into giving up work to end the embarrassments which arose from their commercial activities, but does anyone know why the eleventh in line to the throne needs quite that level of ostentation?

The properties were not sold to parliament.

They were handed over to parliament by George III in return for the civil list

Pineapple I think your right Frogmore Cottage had been converted into 5 apartments and was being reconverted back into one house.

Yet another - I also think it's an unattractive name for a house.

Yes it will be big but given was 5 apartments it's probably quite small compared to other royal houses and castles.

a president? who would you choose? Boris? Hunt? May? Cameron? Corbyn? Milliband? Blair? hahahahaha

Groan. I seem to say this on every thread about this topic, but as people continue to produce this 'brilliant' insight, I will say it again.

An elected presidency to replace the monarch as HoS would be a purely ceremonial figure with no political power, and therefore of absolutely no interest to career politicians like Boris, Blair, May and co at all. These people were/are trying to become the prime minister, a completely different and more powerful role.

Ireland do a great job in electing their presidents, for example.

The Queen had to sign to say she agreed not to take the income from the properties she inherited, and was willing to continue the agreement..... And just accept an income .
Every King or Queen has renewed this agreement since William.....

@bandara Probably because it was available. Kensington would have been a similar thing with converting offices and other apartments into one apartment for them.

Bagshott Park was a £3m refurbishment job too.

I don’t really see why The Crown Estate cannot pay for the renovation of its properties. Just sell a few off - simples.

The Crown Estate takes the lease income.

The Duchy of Cornwall is a substantial land and property owner. Including prime property in London. Definitely not just a few farms and food!

Bagshott Park was a £3m refurbishment job too.

I don’t really see why The Crown Estate cannot pay for the renovation of its properties. Just sell a few off - simples.

The Crown Estate paid for over half of the renovation cost of Bagshot. They pay for all the essentials and the royals pay for the extra fripperies.

Although with Bagshot the Crown Estate has been paid by the previous users for the depreciation value since they’d taken over so it didn’t actually cost them much (if anything).

@ivykaty44

Presidents of France and the US are roles involving real political power: heads of the executives of both those states. They actually do a job of work (or, in the case of the latter illiterate, candyfloss-crowned buffoon, are supposed to).

Comparing them to an unelected head of state and her family is not an equal comparison as the Sovereign no longer has a political or executive role. And as for the hangers-on that are her family...don’t get me started.

We in the U.K. pay to maintain the monarchy AND the Prime Minister, executive, Parliament etc. If expenses had to be cut somewhere, I know which I’d choose (and it wouldn’t be the PM and co).

The Crown Estate properties are essentially ours, ie the taxpayers’. The funding the Queen gets is partly used to maintain them. I can’t see why this is such a difficult concept for people to get their heads round.