Republicans are getting arrested

[carmenitapink]

I find it ridiculous that the media mocks North Korea for forcing its citizens to mourn their leaders death, yet we are being made to do the same.

To top it off, there have been numerous arrests of people protesting the monarchy - which is perfectly within their right to do so, especially if you believe in democracy and only having elected leaders.

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/12/republican-britain-why-are-people-getting-arrested

I liked and respected the Queen, but don't like the rest of the royal family and find the idea that they have the "divine" right to rule frankly ridiculous in this day and age. What is Britain becoming when people don't have the free speech to protest about it?!

That’s sort of my point, hate groups take advantage. I wouldn’t want that going on at a funeral of one of my family, it would deeply distress me. Not everyone can ignore signs telling you your loved one is burning in hell or that god hates you.

I fundamentally think that there should be protection from hate speech….that freedom of speech doesn’t protect hate speech.

@Discovereads "That’s not what I said, I said he did public service while he was Prince of Wales not as or by being Prince of Wales. It’s obvious you have no idea what he has done or does. First, he is a HM Navy veteran with 5yrs service. Secondly, he is a patron of 420 charities, including the largest charity in the U.K., the National Trust. Most of the charities he is a patron of are those that support green energy, anti-pollution and environmental efforts against climate change. Being part of charity work is a form of public service…and he’s done it as a volunteer."

Lol it's amazing what people consider to be hard public service these days. Being patron of a charity means showing up to some of their important events - charity dinners and the like. I don't get how the RF has brainwashed the average person that these type of activities are acts of self sacrificial public service when they receive £850m back from the government as part of the deal to hand over the crown's assets. He's done it as a VOLUNTEER - LOOOOOL. No love, the royal family all well compensated for all they do.

Can you provide figures to prove this? I doubt it!

I posted this on anotehr thread in error - David Davis is correct here (rather pains me to agree with him): twitter.com/DavidDavisMP/status/1569700441490857988

Free speech does not mean you can amplify. That is noise pollution. Try the council.

@Discovereads
Totally agree 👏🏻

The Queen more than anybody would’ve been used to republican sentiments being aired on front of her. She understood her role wasn’t popular with everyone, and why. I don’t think she would’ve been at all shocked to see a person holding a fairly innocuous sign as the car drove past. It’s only the previously-indifferent-but-suddenly-love-the-Queen-since-she-passed types that are getting all outraged by it.

they receive £850m back from the government as part of the deal to hand over the crown's assets.

Could you clarify this please? Who received £850m and for what exactly? When? Source?

@carmenitapink
Being patron of a charity means showing up to some of their important events - charity dinners and the like.

Patron also means that you are a primary fund raiser for that charity. Raising funds is in fact a job, many charities pay a professional fundraising manager to do with an average salary of £32k/yr. The Royal Family collectively raises on average £2bn per year for the charities they are a patrons for, and as I said collect no salary for their services. Charles III is also the President of 16 charities, including the largest one, the National Trust. Typically a President or CEO or ED of one charity commands a salary of £68k/yr.

I never made out that what he does or has done is “hard public service”, I have stated truthful and honestly that he has already done a lifetime of public service and he has done this. He works and it’s not to make more money like the vast majority of the wealthy elites do, he works to give back to society and for the public good.

Thank you, it’s really nice to know my views are shared by others 😊

This is a typo *£85m is how much they get as the annual sovereign grant, so no it's not for "free". Lol

"Each year the Royal Family gets a source of income known as the Sovereign Grant, which comes from the treasury and is funded by taxpayers.

The agreement sees royals receive a grant in exchange for surrendering all profits from the Crown Estate — the family’s portfolio of properties — to the government. Among its holdings are Regent Street in London and the Ascot racecourse in Berkshire.
These buildings are not the private property of each monarch, they simply belong to them for the duration of their reign. This means that King Charles can’t sell the Crown Estate or keep the revenue for himself.
Every year, the reigning monarch is given an amount of money equivalent to 25 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits."

@carmenitapink
Thank you. The description isn’t quite complete. The Crown Estates do not belong to the royal family but to the Crown- the reigning monarch. The Crown Estates are not the monarch’s private property, but neither do they belong to the State as public property. They are a third type of property which is neither private nor public.

So all profits from the Crown Estates technically belong to the monarch. However, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to give all the Crown Estate profits to the Treasury in return for a portion of the profits to pay for the royal families official duties and cover expenses like maintenance of the Crown Estates palaces (not her privately owned properties). This was originally set at 15%, but raised to 25% temporarily for the restoration of Buckingham Palace, after which it will go back down to 15%. I don’t consider this to be “tax payer funded” any more than I’d view a refund from HMRC to be taxpayer funded…it’s just some of the money I originally gave them being paid back to me. The Sovereign Grant is the same, it’s just 25% of the money given by the monarch to the Treasury, being paid back to them.

So, yes like all rich toffs, the monarch and royal family have various sources of income that make them financially independent (the Sovereign Grant isn’t their only income stream).

But Charles III was doing his lifetime of public service for free because he would get his income even if he hadnt worked in the armed forces or the charity sector. When he was Prince of Wales, he got millions a year from the Duchy of Cornwall….again, he’d get this income even if he sat on a sofa and binge watched Netflix while drinking £3,000 bottles of champagne all day. So it’s not a case of any of the royals working for their income as they’d get it whether they worked or not, same as any rich toff.

So in that sense, he was working for free, as he did not earn any extra income by choosing to work.