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"

Kate and William's house at Kensington Palace had a refurbishment to the cost of £4.5 million, including a second family kitchen, and Amner Hall cost £1.3m to refurbish. They had a £32k kitchen put in there.

I'd sooner see the back of all the Royal Family once the Queen dies, but I'm actually sick to the back teeth of the Meghan bashing.

Well she doesn’t get tens of millions!!

Neither do Harry and Meghan. The money goes to the Crown - that's money that's spent on the upkeep of all the royal palaces - it's not some kind of private Harry and Meghan fund!

I guess I pay for the royal family, families on benefits, the NHS, people on disability, children in state schools, etc despite the fact that I need none of these services. That is just the way it is a good citizen/christian as part of the whole country just does it.

Do countries without a monarchy have less poor and homeless? I think not.

It is just the simple premise, of someone thinking that they are better than everyone else, and that they can "rule their minions" that annoys me. They are laughing at us and disrespecting us

Why is there no public outrage at what local councils are spending with public money? Harrogate Council just moved out of a perfectly good and in fact, beautiful, stone built building (which I've had a tour of and is stunning) and built a twelve million pound office building. Why? Because they fancied something more modern....

Military ships which are say in port - they cost £1m per month in maintenance costs just to sit in port.

Military jets. They cost on average £46,000 of fuel per hour to fly. Yes they're imperative to the UK defence but the flight crew can take them up for non essential 'practice' whenever they wish to (ex-dp was a Pilot) £46k it cost the taxpayer for an hour's flying. Imagine how much the red arrows are costing!? (They're not quite as expensive as Typhoons but still an awful lot of money in fuel).

My point is, whilst it's disgraceful that our money is spent on them two living a life of luxury whilst we all work to live, it's a drop in the ocean compared to other extortionate overspends in this country!

Why is there no public outrage at what local councils are spending with public money?

Because nobody can resist a bit of Royal Family bashing.

Ok it's a a lot but having project managed renovations on a listed 19th century building half the size of their "cottage" I could easily believe £1m, it's so expensive when you have to use approved contractors, lime mortar, your downpipes cost 10x as much because the council insist it has a motif thing on it ... then one presumes they have a state of the art kitchen £100k easily. The decision of who pays is more pertinent than the cost of the renovations - it's no tiny cottage

Harrogate 12 million pound office building. Our council have just spent 50 million, not sold their old building and we now have four weekly bin collections. You got off lightly @HappyLoneParentDay

I am as disgusted by Kate and William as I am by Harry and Meghan, and always have been. I used (under a name) to make that clear years ago, but then, to say anything against that parasitic pair was to invite universal condemnation.
Times have changed. I hope that change continues. Time we all grew up and stop letting these lazy dickheads take the piss out of us all.

I'm surprised that anyone thinks William and Kate's lavish expenditure wasn't criticised at the time.
It's just Harry and Meghan's turn now. And they're maybe worse regarded because they claim to be more modern etc.
We have far worse issues to deal with in this country than the royals.

There is debate as to how much they cost us versus what they bring in. That aside, I think that sometime in the near future (say within 10 years) we should have a referendum on the monarchy.

Whilst we have the RF and aristocracy, we will always have a class system because they are at the top of it. It's time for the UK to become a meritocracy. The only other places you find a set up like this are in hugely superstitious, developing nations. This is the 21st Century and I do not want to bow to anyone, call them Your R Highness or courtesy. Tourists would still come here to see palaces etc. They don't actually get to see the Queens, Wills or Harry when they are here so there will be no difference whatsoever.

I'm with the others that say that the crown does not own any of these properties they remain the property of the state and therefore the state maintains them. I dont have a problem with it and as another poster up thread said I'm much more frustrated by the amount of money that is wasted in local government or in the NHS than what it's cost to renovate a state owned building just because the Royals are living at it doesn't mean it shouldn't be brought up to code and a decent standard for a family to live in

@@ComtesseDeSpair
so, you all ok to give me £1.24 a year? yeah? no? why not?

If you receive tax credits, child benefit, free childcare hours (or indeed any state service) then we already do, surely, through our taxation. Whether or not we want to or agree with it.

I've only had child benefit, but i'd rather have £1.24 off everyone if that's the same to you, afterall, why should M&H or K&W have it?

Userundone I was born in the 1950s and have known for many years that the retirement age for women was to be gradually increased over a five year period. So if a woman was born in 1950 then she could claim her state pension at age 60, then it increased each year so a woman born in 1955 could claim her state pension at age 55.

I've only had child benefit

So you never attended school? And your children don't either? You didn't give birth in a hospital or make use of midwife appointments? Your children didn't get free vaccinations from their GP? You never had a health visitor? You've never visited the dentist? I also presume you don't live on a public road (or walk or drive on them)? You don't use services like public libraries? And you don't expect to get a state pension when you retire either, I assume?

These renovations would have had to be done whether Harry and Meghan moved in or some other family.

The general state of the property is not up to present days standards. It's the same reason why Buckingham Place is being renovated. They have not been looked after and kept up to date

So you never attended school? And your children don't either? You didn't give birth in a hospital or make use of midwife appointments?

Sorry but what does all this have to do with ANYTHING? You’re comparing these things to a £2.4 MILLION pound home renovation?!

You are proving our point. All the things you’ve listed are essentials and what I want taxpayer money spent on.

Where do you think the royal family get their money from in the first place....
They’re hardly self made. They are rich off the back of centuries of off the backs of the great unwashed.

They are, but that goes for all the royals. All the working royals stick taxpayers with the bills for their reno’s, clothes, travel etc. And we get nothing of value back.

The monarchy is just a piss take these days. It baffles me that people are still tolerating it. We should have thrown them out on their asses decades ago.

These renovations would have had to be done whether Harry and Meghan moved in or some other family

But they didn’t have to move there. It was their choice. We’re footing the bill because the couples can’t get on.

Think of this: England could easily exist as a country, where eveyone had a place to live, and enough food and basic income were given to everyone so everyone had a humane standard of living. That could easily be in place right now. What is stopping this happening is people at the top being corrupt, taking lots for themselves. A royal family or a government is no more important than you. You have the power inside you of what you want this country to be like.

Sorry but what does all this have to do with ANYTHING? You’re comparing these things to a £2.4 MILLION pound home renovation?!

No - I'm responding to your post in which you said you only receive child benefit - when that's blatantly untrue. That might be all you receive directly but you will get a lot more out of the system over your lifetime than you ever pay into it.

Lots of people on here complaining about paying tiny amounts for the upkeep of the Royal Family when they get plenty out of the system themselves that they've never paid for!

Why can't they live in a normal council house?