Royal Family

[TedTheCat]

I was chatting to friends earlier today who had mixed opinions on the Royals and whether they support them.

I would prefer not to have a Royal Family, but wonder what other people think.

YABU - Keep the Royal Family

YANBU - Get rid of the Royal Family

All of it @CurlewKate I can guarantee that I will share your feelings regarding Andrew so you really don’t have to waste your time arguing this point.

I really like Harry and Meghan. I find it quite scary how much people hate them tbh.

I also like the rest of them (except Andrew of course) Princess Anne is probably my favourite. I miss Queen Elizabeth and wish she was still with us but such is life.

Definitely keep them.

By keeping them we agree in principle and practise to idea that some are better than others and an unequal society.

Dont lump all British people in together, they hold little to no worth to many of us. True but the fact remains that the majority of Brits still support the monarchy, myself included, so they do hold worth for lots of people.

So many seem to be desperately holding on to the idea of quintessential Britishness. And what is wrong with that. I am incredibly proud of our history and proud to be British. Preserving our customs and identity should be promoted not degraded.

They do nothing, literally nothing. Incorrect.

If you check the visitor numbers for Versailles I believe you'll find "history as USP" works perfectly well without real-life mascots to accompany it.

Society is unequal, that is the harsh reality of life.

You do realize it was the fascist dictator who reinstated the Spanish monarchy as a prop to his rule?

This is really well put. People keep trotting out that they bring in money but I have never seen any actual research proving this. They represent a horrible system, are expensive and bring little actual benefit.

And what is wrong with that. I am incredibly proud of our history and proud to be British. Preserving our customs and identity should be promoted not degraded.

What specific ‘British customs and identity’ are you talking about? What is specifically British and is supposedly being degraded?

Incorrect

What do they do then? Because turning up places and being fawned over isn’t actually work. If someone on benefits said ‘but I do work, I go round the hospital and shake all the nurses hands saying ‘good job, well done you’’’, people would quite rightly think they were taking the absolute piss.

Keep them as a tourist attraction but make them entirely self funding, any property that is not their personal property but is the property of the crown estates and held in trust (eg Buckingham palace) would make a lot of money as a hotel and restaurant and huge tourist attraction. Eat in the palace, tour all the palace, sleep in the royal bedrooms. That would be a huge draw.

Make them subject to the same laws as the rest of us, taxation, employment etc. that would bring more money in. ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/14/queen-immunity-british-laws-private-property )

They'd make money off their private property same as always.

There's a lot of people that would pay more to do that sort of thing that they ever would to come stand outside buck palace and look at it. I can only imagine how many people would pay stupid money for a night in the late queen Elizabeth's bedchambers.

The royal family would still exist, it's not like we'd follow the french example. They'd still pull the tourists in even if they were entirely self funding. They just wouldn't have weekly meetings with the pm or indeed any decision making/influencing input at all into politics.

We don't need a royal family. Most countries don't have them. If people are genuinely saying the UK can't survive without the royal family then we've truly fucked up the country.

It's a topic that gets a lot of people really genuinely angry, like they are under personal attack. That and criticism of the NHS or the BBC.

Brainwashing from birth will do that. 🤷😁 5...4...3...2...1...

There's a consultancy called Brand Finance that does corporate valuations, and it's done one on the Royal Family. It used the cost figures provided by the anti-monarchist group Republic rather than the assorted published amounts, which would have been pushed up to the maximum to make their case I'm sure you'll agree (they certainly wouldn't have minimised it!).

According to Brand Finance, the UK monarchy’s capital value as a business sits at £67.5bn, while its annual contribution to the UK economy was £1.76bn in 2017 alone. Meanwhile, for the taxpayer, the annual cost per head is roughly 1p a day.

https://www.republic.org.uk/brand_finance_is_wrong_monarchy_is_not_worth_billions_to_economy

If you get rid of the titles, and the ceremonies, and all the flash stuff, I’d argue what’s the point? If we’re having a royal family they need to be identifiably “royal”. What next, drive themselves to engagements and bin off the palaces for a 3 bed semi in Walthamstow? Chas and Camilla, a nice semi-retired couple from Windsor.

We are specifically talking about the Royal Family, so talk of removing them is talk of degrading that specific custom.

In relation to your query about what they actually do, I'd suggest you look it up. I'm not here to educate.

Or the restoration can be interpreted as a way of creating continuity, so Spain could successfully transition back to democracy in the form of constitutional monarchy. I’m not a huge fan of the current Royal family and the way they are behaving. But I do think our system of government works well and they are part of that. Most people don’t understand how we govern ourselves because it isn’t taught in schools.

The concept of an unelected head of state can't really be defended. However, I'd probably rather keep them than change system. Changing it would be more trouble than it's worth. Plus I like the soap opera aspect of it all.

Definitely agree changing it would be more hassle than it's worth. It's not the 17th century anymore, we can't just have a civil war and then lop their heads off.

They've been there for 1000 years There's all sorts of laws keeping them there that would be a big ballache to change and frankly I think there are most pressing matters the country needs to focus on.

But don't worry if you really hate them - thry will eventually fade out and I can't imagine they will last more than a generation or two now. I'd be surprised if George's kids ever make it to the throne

OP has asked about the royal family. Did you miss the memo?

See my further post upthread

I think it would be really cool if in 2066 the RF said "right, it's been 1000 years now, we've had a good innings, lots of drama, some great stories, some big characters, time to call it a day, thanks everyone for the support." The British Monarchy 1066-2066.

Prince William will be 83 in 2066 so it could even co-incide with the end of his reign and George could be like "that's a wrap"

Perfect.

I don't think they need replacing. Why do we need them? The monarch is just a figurehead, without any real power.
If tourism is the draw then there are literally hundreds of other tourist attractions.

Sorry posted link only. As is frequently pointed out, much of the value attributed to the RF is spurious for reasons I don't need to get into in detail; they are all out there for anyone interested to read up on them.

But it has frequently been pointed out by others that some benefits are attributed to the Monarchy when there is little or no evidence supporting these. For example, we keep hearing that the Monarchy benefits tourism and there is absolutely no evidence - in fact some tourist attractions might be even more accessible if the RF were gone (look at Versailles).

The article in that Brand Finance link gives no confidence that it is balanced or that the writer doesn't have an axe to grind. I note that the article itself admits that the £1.76bn value of the Monarchy to the economy is an 'estimate' despite this being confidently stated at the top as if it were fact. And the 'tangible assets' belong to the state not the RF themselves - ie they belong to us.

Ultimately, even if the Monarchy were really a net benefit to the UK (it isn't) I would still want it gone - because it is wrong.

The monarchy wasn't established in 1066.

Yes I know that, but the current genetic line was.

Ignore the pedantics, it's a cool idea to end it in 2066. Seems fitting.