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"

Given that Will and Kate have got the biggest apartment at KP and a huge estate in Norfolk, Meg and Harrys little cottage renovation is probably a drop in the ocean in comparison.

Ok stupid question here ( I apologise but I'm not British) how do they get that money as a Royal? Do they get a "wage" of sorts or do they just spend and send it to the tax office as expenses or how does it work?

The Queen gets a set amount of money each year that she then uses to fund the family and engagements.The money came from that.

At least some of the work was scheduled before Harry and Meghan were moving there. Anything that wasn’t deemed necessary (roof, electrics etc) they pay for themselves.

Yeah - referendums work SOOO well ... ]

Benefits spending in the UK in 2018 was GBP22.2 Billion ..

Easy for me to say this as it's not my money but I used to hear that figure saying it costs British people 2 pence a week to support the royal family.

It is what it is. I wouldn't get upset over it.

Selfish, spendthrift, vacuous parasites. All of them not just M and H.
Time we were done with them

didn't they have a perfectly nice place at Kensington Palace? They chose to move so the renovation should be paid for by them

YABU to single out Harry and Meghan but YANBU to criticise the amount the monarchy spend as a whole. William and Kate spent millions refurbishing their house too.

But if you want to get truly outraged about something, look up how much tax avoidance costs the UK. What Harry and Meghan spent is just a fraction of that.

You can be as outraged as you like, I'm sure many millions are. But until we don't have a monarchy anymore it won't change.

Yes, people need to stop harping on about individual people within the royal family, some of whom seem to attract more outrage than others and think about the monarchy as an institution. The whole point of a monarchy is that you don't get to choose its members -- the crown just descends to whoever is next in line, be that a Nazi sympathiser or a frustrated pensioner with environmental pretensions and a desire to be a tampon. And they get to marry anyone they like, too.

If you're in favour of the monarchy rather than an elected ceremonial head of state, that's what you're signing up for. And it seems the majority of British people still prefer this expensive anachronism than a cheaper, democrative alternative.

Ok stupid question here ( I apologise but I'm not British) how do they get that money as a Royal? Do they get a "wage" of sorts or do they just spend and send it to the tax office as expenses or how does it work?

It comes from the Crown Estate which is a massive private property portfolio. The income from that goes to the taxman who then gives the Queen 15% back.

www.thecrownestate.co.uk/

Yes of course it’s obscene especially considering it is now understood they can’t actually even live there!! Apparently due to ‘security’ reasons.

Why they didn’t know this in advance is beyond me

This is the problem with the Crown estate. Whilst the royal family have the use of the properties/land, they don’t own it. Therefore they don’t use their personal wealth in its maintenance.
There is nothing we can do about it unless the nation decides that the royal family can’t live in Crown property and have to stay in their privately own property (Sandringham, Balmoral, Highgrove etc). This won’t happen.
I really can’t see the royal family being particularly relevant after the queen dies.

So campaign against the monarchy, don't target a couple one of which is almost the newest member AND a black woman. When did you last complain about how much the Queen spends?

@lyralalala thanks, so in that case they're not spending any extra of the Tax payers money if it's coming from the Queens allowance?

In regards to their own money, I get how Meghan would have her own money but where would Harrys own money come from if it wasn't from the state? Does he get paid for attending events etc?

Aside from where the money comes from, I'm confused as to how it cost so much? It did sound like it needed a lot of work (rewire, gas supply etc) but I've seen people knock up a luxury home from scratch for a quarter of that!

Err, didnt K&W renovations at Kensington Palce cost £4M?? Not sure why H&M are being blamed for spending?

Frogmore is part of Windsor, which is part of The Royal Palace Estates which is actually state owned. I think its pretty nice of her to do up a council house out of her own pocket.

Council house?! Seriously?!

Nobody from the state is ever going to live in or have the use of that “council house”, it’s essentially a private home, so why the fuck should the state have to pay for it?

Meg and Harrys little cottage renovation is probably a drop in the ocean in comparison.

That “little cottage” is actually a 10-bedroom mansion.

@curiositycreature Thank you

The money comes from the Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the crown estate with the treasury taking a huge cut.

It isn't taxpayers' money.

it's disgusting. Vile. As it was for the other royals.

Yes we should be up in arms. People are homeless in this country. People are in poverty. People are turning to food banks. And we spend £2.4m on a fucking "cottage". Fuck what is the world coming to

Repairs were paid for out of the Sovereign Grant. The BBC says that the Queen's Sovereign Grant from the Treasury was £82m in 2018-19, with £33m set aside for maintenance, including major work on Buckingham Palace.

Harry and Meghan are spending their own money on fixtures and fittings.

Separate accounts show the Royal Family's commercial property arm, the Crown Estate, provided £343.5m to the Treasury in 2018-19, up 4.3% on last year.

The Sovereign Grant is funded by profits from the Crown Estate. From www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48746609

See more at www.royal.uk/royal-finances-0

So not as simple as 'money being taken that would have been spent on homeless people and spent on Harry and Meghan'.

BBC also says the house belongs to Harry and Meghan - The 19th Century property was given to them by the Queen and the renovation paid for out of the Sovereign Grant.

They get all of the benefits of being royal without playing their part. All of those hide and seek pictures of the baby, like you have to assemble a jigsaw of images to get a complete picture are ridiculous and cringeworthy. I used to think Harry was a smart guy, now he just seems like your typical Tim Nice But Dim.

@AryaStarkWolf no there’s no extra from the taxpayer for it. It just comes from the Queen’s allowance. (There is extra this year in the Queen’s allowance for the renovations of Buckingham Palace which has basically been badly neglected over the years, but not Frogmore).

Harry’s personal money will mostly come from inheritances. The Queen Mother left money in trust for all her great-grandchildren (except William) and his mother also left him money. Also anything left to his mother by her mother would have been split between him and William.

And no, tourists do not visit the UK specifically because of the royal family.

Bonkers statement, op. How do you know? Have you asked them all??