…to suggest that it’s time the Royal family stands on its own feet and stops taking money from the public purse?

[HappyGalentines]

The Royal family owns and has access to lots of money, land and property. So is it right that they should to take any more money away from us?

The peasants outside the gate are waking up folks!

I hope those inside the gates are taking note.....

I for one want their wills unsealed NOW. I'd dine on the contents for years, happily 😊

Well we agree on that, we don’t agree on whether the UK should be a republic or not.

I agree with you OP. Stop the money and make them pay all back taxes due .

And as for @KaleidoscopeSmile - I strongly disagree
The pedophile and pedophile protector scandals ( yes it’s more than Andrew ) affect us all.

Leave the people who think Meghan is worse than Andrew because her jam is runny to the royal threads by all means .

The Windsor financial rip off affects us all too
The Windsors should be debated everywhere - better still give us a say in whether we will
continue to tolerate them .

All debunked years ago

I agree

I don’t understand why William (who is meant to be the more modern face of the firm) has broken his fathers tradition & not revealed how much tax he has paid.

Absolutely this!

I do not accept the ‘it’s too difficult to get rid of the Windsors’ line
An act of Parliament- just as happened with relative ease in 1936 to get rid of the Nazi king .
Suddenly the previously impossible was possible….

But start with stopping the financial rip off.
The Windsors must pay all taxes due - yes inheritance tax too just like the rest of us .
Make the Duchys part of the crown estate as was always intended and rename the crown estate the national estate to make its status clearer for the more hard of thinking .

I have a feeling that once their hoarded billions start being dipped into and once they are no longer above the law the Windsors themselves will walk away . And somehow we will manage - even thrive - without them

This 100%

Great post @LondonLass61

Nah, off with their heads 🤣

By definition ChatGPT cannot give you a reliable answer for information held secret. That is not how it works.

Don't technology shame alongside you royalist biases

Technology shame?! that’s a new one!

Two words that have significant benefit to the British tax payer - soft power.

But the pitchfork republicans on this thread won’t think further than the end of their nose when it comes to the RF. They’re people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

lol

The hardworking royals like Princess Anne and Charles so many hundreds of engagements a year, plus lots of meetings and organising behind the scenes. Charles has his Prince's Trust, which takes up his time. They do a LOT. For the less lazy royals, it's a full-time job. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see that level of public service from William and Kate.

I support the monarchy because I love our traditions and because the absolute last thing I want is a slimy politician at the top of the totem pole. There's a lot to be said for continuity and a layer of constitution that's above politics. However, I believe they should have a lot less money and property than they do, and I think they should live much more modestly than they do.

Andrew and Fergie are disgraces, but they are peripheral. The rest of the family is nothing like them.

To quote you" why is the crown estate in the possession of the state and not the royal family?". Did you even bother to check why? The. Crown estates were handed over because the royal family couldn't pay for all their obligations such as funding the royal navy, army, civil service etc from the crown estates. Instead the tax payer took on the job and made up the difference. Did you think they handed them over out of the goodness of their hearts? The crown estates are not in any way the personal property of the monarchy. The head of state should be completely transparent in their financial dealings instead of concealing their wealth and it's sources.

Yeah Andrew is great for soft power

A typical royal engagement is a half hoir phone call. By that metric I did 7 engagements yesterday. Where are my taxpayer millions?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/05/windsors-v-borbons-comparing-the-public-pay-of-european-royal-families
This article compares the costs to their countries tax payers of the remaining European royal families. There is absolutely no reason why we should continue to fund ours to the extent that we do. The king, William and his family, fine. But the rest, just why? They can get jobs or live off the vast existing wealth that they have. And the ones we do fund should use their own wealth to fund the more extravagant aspects of their lifestyles and not expect the tax payers to do so.

Probably because he pays nothing or the bear minimum. I wish I could choose whether to pay tax or not

😄😄😄

I think we need to ensure Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle etc are properly maintained and cared for as they’re essential to our history and tourism. It’s not a reasonable request to insist somebody open their home to the public and we get to treat it as public property, but we won’t contribute to the upkeep of it. So I’m happy with some kind of reasonable grant for that.

I also think security is something the public should foot as they didn’t ask to be born with a target on their backs 🤷‍♀️

Plus expenses for things like banquets, staff and so on - they host all manner of politicians and dignitaries for the good of the public, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to do all of this for free, or on a shoe string. Our soft power really matters as we found out recently.

All of that; I’m happy to fund. But they need to be transparent financially, pay a fair rate of tax (basically what anyone else would in their position), and be answerable in their financial decisions.

I find it laughable that people think they "work hard" and raise awareness for charities. Yes things like environmental causes and mental health are worthwhile but these are issues that are already in the public eye and heightened awareness of these haven't been due to the Royal family. They've merely attached themselves to the cause. They aren't doing anything new or groundbreaking for example when Diana (and I was by no means her biggest fan) shook hands with the aids patient or walked through the landmines. At least she wasn't afraid at the time to tackle controversial issues. It would be great to see Kate use her platform for example tackle gender inequality and gender based violence but she's notoriously silent on these issues.

And let's face it they aren't working hard. They have a vast array of people who will do the hard graft for them.

It's always typical as well people use the tourism line as well. I'm in Scotland, we have a great tourism industry and trust me it isn't because of the Royal family. Places like Buckingham palace etc can still stay open without the need for the Royal family. And in 2021, none of the Royal residences made the top 10 most visited places in the UK.

And for diplomacy?! We're literally seeing how well that's gone at the moment with Andrew. Prince William is currently on a state funded visit to the Saudi Royal family who have absolutely appalling human rights records. Is that what we want our money going towards? And their role is ceremonial, while they may create a favourable atmosphere they don't actually negotiate the trade deals or business contacts themselves. And the soft power vs economic power is hard to measure precisely.

I think as things go this is (hopefully) the start of more things to come out and for a serious discussion about what exactly the need is for a monarchy in a modern society.

Our soft power really matters as we found out recently.

When did we find this out recently? Am I missing something?