Defund the royal family

[Goodheart]

It is just absurd to me that British citizens ultimately pay for and put up with this kind of bullshit.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/anger-in-uk-over-prince-andrew-s-12-mn-settlement/ar-AATVmTe?ocid=msedgntp

[Wounded Bear]

1. Maybe should be here...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1088

[Hekate]

2. Really it's not any of our business & they don't harm us, do they?

[Bettie]

3. What's that saying?

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

I do get why people are angry about it though.

Heck, I'm angry at how much we still pay to keep that orange creature down in Florida doing whatever the fuck it is he does.

[brush]

6. Agreed. And what he's doing is actively trying...

to bring down the republic/democracy.

[lagomorph777]

15. Yeah, I agree with the OP sentiment, but they're not our monkeys.

We have enough flying monkeys of our own.

[Dorian Gray]

27. Yeah

as an american, it isn't my place to be angry about funding of the royal family.

(But, I did think they brought in a lot of tourism dollars. Don't know if that makes up for the amount that goes out, tho.)

[Jacson6]

4. Actually...

The Royal Crown owns property and rents it out. That is how they get their money. For example, Prince Charles owns half of the real estate in England and rents it out.

[Hekate]

7. Thanks. I don't know the details, but I do know they own real estate and businesses of their own...

Periodically I point that out, but people really don’t want to hear that.

[Jacson6]

17. Many of the East Coast US Cities back in the early pioneer days where given to the King or Queen too

That is just how the land was appropriated. The Royal Family of England or Spain or Portugal would be AWARDED the land then they would sale, charge rents or give land grants to their subjects. It is all history now.

[lagomorph777]

16. That makes it OK?

Not my problem, but I am surprised the Brits continue to tolerate that shit.

[pecosbob]

5. Defund the oligarchy here at home

[Hekate]

8. We do have pressing problems of our own, don't we?

[hlthe2b]

9. I'm not British, so I will leave that to residents of the UK to make that decision.

We made that decision 247 years ago yet we might take a dose of humility by remembering that 40% or more of our own want an autocracy/plutocracy with a dictatorial "flourish." By comparison? I don't think we get to take too many bows right now.

[LakeArenal]

10. Nope.... Royalty is tourism, ratings, human interest, rich, and human

Their failings make for ratings.

Tourism centers a bunch around it.

We suck up weddings, scandals, deaths and divorces.

Britain will never eliminate as US will not eliminate the taxpayer funded stadiums and convention centers.

[BlackSkimmer]

11. Why is this in GD?

Who cares?

[Hekate]

21. The usual periodic resentment post

[whistler162]

29. The person who thinks that

America is still a British Colony probably!

[JT45242]

12. Royal family is actually a net win for the British...

I used to think the same thing. Then I saw data on how much royalty related tourism and merchandise brings into the British government and how much it dwarfs the money spent on the royals.

Then, they compared the tourism money generated for castles and other royal related places in other Eurpoean countries that have no ties to their monarchy anymore (like France and Germany). The drop off was amazing. Surveys found that tourists go to England to see the royals andthe castles because of the royals.

Would actually be a cut off your nose to spite your face at this point.

I know it seems dumb as an American -- but keeping the figurehead royals is actually a good economic move for the UK.

[Goodheart]

13. Britain could still have all its castles and even a royal family

without all the subsidies.

[CatWoman]

14. I don't care what anyone says

but I think the Queen is wonderful.

Her scumbags sons are another story.

[JT45242]

24. But people wouldn't go to see them

They did a ton of market research. No royals and they wouldn't draw tourists.

Tower of London might...but the net positive cash flow is worth it as far as parliament is concerned.

Plus there is the rent on all the royal lands. If the royals were to take that back because they don't have titles, that is a ton of money that feeds into the government coffers.

[Raine]

18. They bring in lots and lots of tourist's dollars

is what I've heard, I doubt they'd want to lose all those dollars.

[tritsofme]

19. My understanding is that the money returned to the treasury from royal businesses far exceed

the payments made to the royal family, so they are in effect a profit center for the government.

[Lucinda]

20. The monarch and the heir are the only ones who get tax money of I rememer correctly. And I think it

is less than a pound a year - or was when I looked at the numbers last. The work on crown owned properties comes from a non-taxpayer source and is managed via the Queen.

Their vast wealth is not from the citizens pockets.

https://the-british-monarchy.weebly.com/taxes.html

[Igel]

25. Yes, no, it depends.

Think of Buckingham Palace.

Now think of it as an entirely private bit of property.

https://www.statista.com/chart/18569/total-cost-of-the-uks-royal-family-by-year/

[demtenjeep]

22. not for us to decide

or even get involved in

[Goodheart]

23. I didn't say otherwise.

[herding cats]

26. I'm ambivalent about the royals. I'm livid about much of what's taking place here.

As such my concerns for the woes on our own shores far overshadows my following of the Brits and their love/hate (mostly love) relationship with the royals.

This isn't our call, or battle. As such, I just do not have any cares to give here.

[JI7]

28. The British Citizens are the ones that support the whole Royal Family thing

[obamanut2012]

30. Andrew's salary comes from the Queen's private money

And, he gets a small Navy pension, which the raping bastard earned.

Taxpayers do not pay for him.

[ShazzieB]

31. None of my beeswax.

I have plenty of real issues to get worked up about.

To paraphrase the Jay-Z song, I've got 99 problems. The UK royal family ain't one.