Prince Andrew has bolted to Balmoral

[Viviennemary]

This according to guess who. The DM of course. To avoid getting papers served says the article. Maybe he's just gone for a nice break. Accompanied by Fergie.

[quote Stircraazy]@PeriWrinkles you should stand for Parliament, and once you get in set up an educational course for the 90% of us blinkered ignoramuses in the country.[/quote]
I couldn't possibly aspire to Mr Williamson's achievements I'm afraid. Legend in the making. Voted in by....

Don't get me started on the shitshow running this country, god help us

No you're putting words in my mouth and missing the point (the existence of, not the reasons for, national divisions) while also illustrating the differences I was talking about. Sturgeon's no doubt staging a shitshow just like the blond buffoon that I didn't vote for either. It's slightly more than 0.01 percent of Scottish people that want independence though isn't it? The point is there's no unity here. Again with the lecturing. Scottish Labour and the the Scottish Conservatives aligned themselves with their leaderships in London ie Corbyn and Johnson. Neither were acceptable to the Scottish people. Nicola plays the anti English card and it appeals to some people We didn't want Brexit but we got it anyway. It makes me nostalgic for Tony Blair. None of this has got anything much to do with the Royal Family because if they were done away with tomorrow we would still be left with people like you who have the arrogance to think you know better than a lot of us Scots about how our country should be run. When has the whole of the UK been united politically and socially? Please explain.

@Roussette

Here is the growing cost of the Royals in the 9 years to 2019/20. Huge % increases and 20/21 is missing as it's now up to £86.3m

And there is some law or ruling that it can never go down, only up

@Roussette I tried typing in the URL from your post, but it comes up as access denied.

Fullfact give figures here. It says Crown Estate bought in £330 million, of which The Queen receives 25%, so is that the costs you are referring to, as roughly the same? It then goes on to say that if profits went down then the grant wouldn’t (but this hasn’t happened yet).

Maybe missing something, but it suggests government receive the other 75%.

I did a screenshot not a link

And it is so opaque, the figures can be nent any way to suit any narrative.
But let's not pretend that the royals don't cost us anything

*bent !!

@derxa

No you're putting words in my mouth and missing the point (the existence of, not the reasons for, national divisions) while also illustrating the differences I was talking about. Sturgeon's no doubt staging a shitshow just like the blond buffoon that I didn't vote for either. It's slightly more than 0.01 percent of Scottish people that want independence though isn't it? The point is there's no unity here. Again with the lecturing. Scottish Labour and the the Scottish Conservatives aligned themselves with their leaderships in London ie Corbyn and Johnson. Neither were acceptable to the Scottish people. Nicola plays the anti English card and it appeals to some people We didn't want Brexit but we got it anyway. It makes me nostalgic for Tony Blair. None of this has got anything much to do with the Royal Family because if they were done away with tomorrow we would still be left with people like you who have the arrogance to think you know better than a lot of us Scots about how our country should be run. When has the whole of the UK been united politically and socially? Please explain.

I haven't got a fucking clue what you're on about. Nor have I any clue how Scotland should be run, literally couldn't give a fuck whether Scotland is part of the UK or not, nor whether the UK politically implodes tomorrow. I've got no flag to wave.

The UK isn't united and never has been. And?

@Roussette

I did a screenshot not a link

I know that, that’s why I tried typing in a link - would just be interested to know where you got the screenshot from.

On a phone so tricky.
But legit as I put in sovereign grant last ten years

Not the only source

I can't account for every single royal property, but surely many of them would be kept up as museums even if the monarchy was abolished, due to their historical value. Some would probably still be used for diplomatic and ceremonial functions. The cost of keeping up giant, ancient castles will be enormous either way, so I think some people may be overestimating the amount that would actually be saved here.

@Roussette
Not disputing its legitimate, but it’s only a quarter of the money -the rest is considered ‘public money’. So what happens to that? Plus the Queen has private income she is taxed on.

You said let’s not pretend the royals don’t cost us anything - happy to be proved wrong. Add on the privy purse and private investments from holdings that she pays tax on.

I also used to be a royalist but after the Andrew and Harry debacles have gone a bit meh about them now.

Ok I take your point but do question the taxes the royalty *are" excluded from.

IHT for example.

Wills not public

Crown bodies such as The Duchy of Lancaster and Cornwall are not subject to legislation with income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. The Sovereign has no legal liability to pay these taxes.

Why?

How can they sit there, multi millionaires, and in the case of Queen a billionaire, and not pay what we pay??

I would love someone to justify that.

I'm listening...

Why do we pay these taxes and they don't?

@Mamamia7962

Porridge - I think the question is whether they were served legally and we won't know that until the court case tomorrow.

He knew they'd been delivered. The service may or may not be void, but VRGs lawyers considered them served so they were not going yo be re-served. Therefore when he went to Scotland, he wasn't hiding from being served.

@Rousette. The queen's not a billionaire. O think she's estimated at about £350m. Although, of course, probably only the Queen and her accountant know for sure.

@Roussette

And it is so opaque, the figures can be nent any way to suit any narrative. But let's not pretend that the royals don't cost us anything

Any Head of State would cost us. They'd need to be paid, housed and to have security for them and their families. In fact I don't how the cost would be much less. All the palaces would still have to be staffed and maintained. But a monarch holds a lot more cachet overseas then president no one outside the country knows. President Phil Schofield anyone?

It's to "safeguard the erosion of the sovereign's wealth" because technically they are not supposed to grow their assets like normal high -wealth individuals, and so if they had repeated IHT bills they might have to sell a couple of houses, the poor hapless waifs.

In practice they do whatever they like as they're not bound by the same rules on transparency and disclosure as the plebs are, so they can make it up as they go along.

I always laugh a lot when the issue comes up of who might replace the Q as head of our country.
But never has Philip Schofield been mentioned, that's a new one!
Other countries manage perfectly well with their elected Head, we could too.

As for the Q being a billionaire, the extraordinary lengths she and the RF go to, to hide their wealth is beyond incredible, there is much out there saying I'm not wrong.

Can I suggest this book, it goes into a lot of detail about the RF. It's written by someone well respected, a member of the Privy Council. It's an eye opener.

Here

If you are a staunch royalist, you won't like this factual book. Here's a description.

But a monarch holds a lot more cachet overseas then president no one outside the country knows

Those days are gone. Not any more

But a monarch holds a lot more cachet overseas then president no one outside the country knows.

Depends on the presidential role. She can offer a photo op, but she can’t influence policy. It probably is valuable to be photographed with somebody who can link you to your own country’s past. It’s not clear that Charles would have the same value.

We do know that members of the family have sold the status and respectability conferred by association with royalty for personal gain, regardless of whether that forwards the interests of the nation. Prince Andrew is a prime example and the Queen gave him an honour.

Not clear why Philip Scofield would be President.

@Porridgealert. Irish president: average annual cost €330k.

As for cachet abroad, a despot that nobody voted for does have a kind of medieval charm I guess, do you mean like the kings of Thailand and Saudi Arabia?

Again, I think its wrong to blithely suggest that we should keep on having a Royal Family when it clearly does so much harm to the people involved. The Queen does have the characteristics required to do the job, but it's obvious that many of the family members don't, and every generation has members who have been harmed by the institution.

You can't modernise the institution by making it more human, because the entire concept depends on the idea that the family aren't just normal human beings.

If we are going to keep a monarchy then then they need to actually start behaving as if they are worthy of all the privilege they enjoy and stop conducting themselves like grifters. Why are they associating with dodgy businessmen? Selling access? Having sordid affairs? Putting themselves in positions where they can get stung by the News of the World fake sheikhs? Getting into debt and having those debts paid by rich associates? Spilling their guts on TV about how hard done by they are?
How is this making Britain look good - it's all sleazy as fuck, no matter how much pomp and ceremony is involved.
The Queen is the boss and the buck stops with her imo. She ought to have reeled them all back in decades ago.

And I'm fed of hearing how hard it is to be a member of that family. It isn't - there's a choice. Either take the money status and privilege and enjoy a fantastic life with minimal real work or take the benefit of your very expensive education, go out into the world and earn your own living without making a huge song and dance about it.

I am inclined to agree with you. Especially the dodgy businessmen, Andrew's done that for decades.
And selling access or trading on their name is just awful.
Just look at Peter's milk ad for the Chinese, with a palace in the background.
And Prince Michael and the Russians
And Sarah Ferguson's books...Dining with the Duchess, Dieting with the Duchess etc

It's all soooo sleazy