Is it time for the royal family to be phased out?

[TulipsTulipsTulips]

There has been a steady stream of negative posts this week about Harry & Meghan, and Prince Andrew isn’t exactly covering himself in glory. I feel sorry for little Archie being born into this mess and all the expectations that are already on him. It has made me reconsider whether I support a royal family. On the plus side apparently they are good for tourism, but if they stepped down or took less active roles those palaces could be opened up for tourists. Should they be phased out, or should the group of active royals be narrowed? Or do you still support them? What do you think?

No people need to start been a bit nicer.

I do not think there is widespread support for abolishing the monarchy.

It's a normal and frequent means of Head of State.

And places which are far more republican the UK, enough to make a referendum worthwhile, the vote was lost.

As Parliament seems hellbent on ignoring/overturning referendum results, then that is not really an avenue open any more.

I suppose I was wondering if public opinion was shifting. But maybe people just want to complain while keeping the status quo!

I don't think the RF should be phased out at all. I like that we have the monarchy, they cost us each very little and the fact that we have monarchy still living in palaces and pomp and ceremony on certain occasions draws more tourism.

The Queen has been very dignified and devoted her life to doing her duty and is a fine example of how the rest of the RF should behave. I think she deserves to know her good work will continue.

If we became a republic we could end up with a head of state who behaved in a very undignified manner and who wielded far too much power. (Think President of USA being the most powerful person in the world).

I think some of the RF are too insulated from the realities of real life though and need to see more of the real world. Most of the population work 5 days per week and I think, if members of the RF receive money from the state or from the crown, they should work a 5-day week for that money up until state retirement age. It is not enough that a lot of members of the RF work as little as some of them do. They should have a similar amount of holiday entitlement as the rest of the working population.

"I feel sorry for little Archie being born into this mess and all the expectations that are already on him."
What expectations are you referring to?

If we became a republic we could end up with a head of state who behaved in a very undignified manner and who wielded far too much power. (Think President of USA being the most powerful person in the world).

This makes absolutely no sense, I’m sorry.

Yes we should. I’m not sure if the vast majority of people in the UK for a republic but public opinion is definitely shifting especially among younger people. It will be interesting to see this same discussion after the Queen has died.

Well yes, obviously the entire notion of hereditary monarchy is ridiculous.

That's true regardless of the behaviour of the members of the royal family.

I don't think there is enough popular support to change though, so in the meantime I'll enjoy the pomp and ceremony, the clothes, and the gossip (not you Andrew, you can fuck off).

I would like to see us keep the monarch as a head of state, but stop financially supporting those not directly in line to the throne. I'm sure they'd find it easy enough to find well paid jobs having had expensive educations and royal connections. Inequality is rising and I think it is tasteless to have minor royals who really add nothing of value riding the gravy train. I also think that royal owned land should be given to the state and no longer passed from generation to generation with no inheritance tax.