In what way do the RF "serve their country " ,what actually is their duty ?

[peridito]

I can understand that their involvement on Remembrance Sunday honours people who have served their country in terms of military service but what else do they do to "fulfill their duty " ?

With the tourism thing, none of our international guests have ever been bothered by the royal aspect of the UK. We once offered to take a guest to an event where she would definitely see the Queen, up close, and she chose shopping instead. But likewise, we were once in Belgium and unexpectedly came across a princess meeting and greeting, and we felt nothing, certainly no excitement or need to take photos, just confusion as we didn't know Belgium even had a royal family! I think to other countries, royals are quaint and old-fashioned, like some sort of eccentric part of our country's "family" that we put up with but not really a conscious decision or part of a real democracy.

But go to BP when they are changing the guard and there are plenty of tourists so a lot of people are interested in it, even if your guests aren't. Same with the recent royal weddings - a fair few people were there watching given that no one's interested.

H&M, certainly have highlighted the horrible loss of privacy that comes with the family ties. The level of scrutiny they live with is soul destroying. I see a full revamp of “the firm” on the horizon. I hope Charlotte and Luis are able to qualify and work even if within the family business but fully work ie accounting roles, curator, event management anything other than living a life in a goldfish bowl.

The Queen can dissolve Parliament if she feels like it.
I wouldn't say it was a good thing that a 93 year old unelected monarch (or a nazi sympathising monarch we could have had but for a twist of fate during WWII) could dissolve an elected Parliament. Which in practice is why she cant without the Government telling her she can. So back to no power whatsoever. I wouldn't mind as very slimmed down monarchy with fewer houses. They're not important enough to get rid of completely but why are we keeping the amount of Royals we do? Monarch heir and dependent children should be enough. Charlotte and Louis should grow up with the expectation that they will have to get a job. Not sure Wills and Kate are 'get a job' type of parents though!

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras ah ,sorry I shouldn't have said anything about gut feelings .

I've looked at that link ,thanks .It's complicated and I can't imagine how anyone could work out what the RF generate in income for Britian .Especially if they're including guestimates like they bring in £50 million for inspiring shows like "The Crown" !

I think we'll never know .

So today as part of his "duty" Charley boy has taken a private jet to Davos so he can have a meeting with little Greta about how he thinks there should be green taxes to save the planet. I know the RF are not the brightest of mortals but surely he employs someone with enough brain cells to tell him he looks like a selfish, hypocritical, spoilt, totally out of touch twat.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras yes there is interest, but also plenty of British people on coach tours to BP and WC as there does seem to be more interest amongst the older generations in the RF. From the Republic link, 23 other tourist attractions make more than WC.

I agree with your point about the facade. We give them a lot of money because they are rich and privileged and think they have a divine right to it. Even when money is supposedly theirs (Prince of Wales and Duchy of Cornwall monies for example), they write stuff off against it, so we end up funding them. It is a waste of money that we could better use on other things. And we are still funding sex offender Andy and will keep doing so.