Should the royal family exist?

user1298371

12

controversial!

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by user1298371

controversial!

If we abolished them, where would be find the £1.8 million per year they contribute (net) to the UK economy?

Whilst those numbers seem dated, this article says "The monarchy’s near £2bn uplift for the UK economy has not decreased since 2017, according to Konrad Jagodzinski of Brand Finance."

I think that the monarchy should be abolished.

Reply 3

Gazpacho.

11

Original post by DataVenia

If we abolished them, where would be find the £1.8 million per year they contribute (net) to the UK economy?

Whilst those numbers seem dated, this article says "The monarchy’s near £2bn uplift for the UK economy has not decreased since 2017, according to Konrad Jagodzinski of Brand Finance."

Can you offer an explanation of how they arrived at those individual figures?

Reply 4

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Gazpacho.

Can you offer an explanation of how they arrived at those individual figures?

I cannot. The report from which that illustration is drawn is here with a summary of the data and definitions in the press summary here. There is also some information here.

(Note that I have not read the report, and pass no judgement on its findings. I just remembered reading before the the monarchy are a net contributor the UK economy, so when OP asked whether or not they should exist, I decided to lookup the relevant economic data.)

Edited to add the source of the chart itself, which is https://www.statista.com/chart/11972/does-the-monarchy-benefit-the-uks-economy/.

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 5

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

21

I suppose the question is even if they are net contributors, is it morally right that we have a monarchy.

Reply 6

NameUserer

13

Absolutely. They represent everything wrong with Britain.

If it doesn't make you furious that the government pays them £80000 a year, solely due to their bloodline, while the NHS crumbles and families go hungry, I'd invite you to consider what that says about your ethics. They own an estimated £15 billion in assets and they're still siphoning more.

Reply 7

Gazpacho.

11

Original post by DataVenia

I cannot. The report from which that illustration is drawn is here with a summary of the data and definitions in the press summary here. There is also some information here.

(Note that I have not read the report, and pass no judgement on its findings. I just remembered reading before the the monarchy are a net contributor the UK economy, so when OP asked whether or not they should exist, I decided to lookup the relevant economic data.)

Edited to add the source of the chart itself, which is https://www.statista.com/chart/11972/does-the-monarchy-benefit-the-uks-economy/.

As would be expected of a brand consultancy firm, they are very light on details in their report. How did they arrive at the £550 million figure for tourism? I highly doubt the gate receipts for Buckingham Palace add up this amount. It is a very broad estimate.

However, the main problem with your perspective is this 1.8 billion does not disappear if we say became a republic. People won’t stop visiting royal attractions I or coming to the UK for its royal history. The Palace of Versailles is one of the world’s major tourist attractions despite the French approach to disposing their monarchs.The crown estate can be used to to raise funds for the state, without the need of taxpayer funding the sovereign grant. Etc.

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 8

A Rolling Stone

20

Original post by Admit-One

I suppose the question is even if they are net contributors, is it morally right that we have a monarchy.

a more important question is whether the issue of morality in all of this is significant or minuscule - you could argue the morality of literally anything, eg. having firework displays that frighten animals and people with PTSD, but the morality question becomes insignificant if it' only be a small handful of dates (should be just a couple imo) in the year

Reply 9

jacksmith23

12

Original post by user1298371

controversial!

prince andrew sums up a decent arguement

Reply 10

mike44

8

Original post by NameUserer

Absolutely. They represent everything wrong with Britain.
If it doesn't make you furious that the government pays them £80000 a year, solely due to their bloodline, while the NHS crumbles and families go hungry, I'd invite you to consider what that says about your ethics. They own an estimated £15 billion in assets and they're still siphoning more.

It's govt ineptitude which is the reason why NHS is crumbling and families often go hungry because of poor choices they have made in their own lives. The Royals produce a lot of income for the state and I would rather have someone above the useless Governments keep having who are there to defend our safety than an elected politician focused on his or her own benefit!

Reply 11

hotpud

18

Original post by Talkative Toad

I think that the monarchy should be abolished.

Oh - not totally. I think the assets they own including estates and huge tracts of land should be sold off and given back to the public purse. They should also be forced to either buy out the value of the businesses they own e.g. Duchie Estates or sell them off, but then once all that has been done (it would probably net enough money to actually pay for the Tories tax cutting ideas), they would be permitted to continue with their lives and appointments in say Buckingham Palace and Winsor Castle (obviously they would pay rent) which let's face it serves three purposes:

1.

To allow old dears to crow in admiration

2.

To be figure heads and supporters of the armed services in an otherwise ambivalent country

3.

To provide news fodder and cheap gossip for the rest of us

Original post by hotpud

Oh - not totally. I think the assets they own including estates and huge tracts of land should be sold off and given back to the public purse. They should also be forced to either buy out the value of the businesses they own e.g. Duchie Estates or sell them off, but then once all that has been done (it would probably net enough money to actually pay for the Tories tax cutting ideas), they would be permitted to continue with their lives and appointments in say Buckingham Palace and Winsor Castle (obviously they would pay rent) which let's face it serves three purposes:

1.

To allow old dears to crow in admiration

2.

To be figure heads and supporters of the armed services in an otherwise ambivalent country

3.

To provide news fodder and cheap gossip for the rest of us

I don’t know if they should be made to do that, I simply think that they need to be abolished and the UK ought to become a republic similar to France even though President Kier/Rishi doesn’t sound good.