The Royal Family

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Blade Runner said:
‘The taxpayer is facing a bill for £359 million for an upgrade of Buckingham Palace while the Queen, one of the richest people in the country, contributes nothing. Meanwhile she pockets the millions in admission fees from visitors. It makes the £2.4 million of taxpayers’ money being spent for Harry and Meghan on Frogmore Cottage look like small change.’ (Daily Mirror)

‘So while the taxpayer signs off £359 million, the Palace continues to pocket all the lucrative stream of entrance fees to the building, to other royal palaces and to the Royal Collection. To paraphrase Janet Daly, it is theirs when it is an income stream, it is ours when it needs to be repaired’ ...And What Do You Do? What the Royal Family Don’t Want You To Know’ by Norman Baker
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Still cheaper than the cost of repairing the Palace of Westminster - In the region of £6 billion. The Victorian sewage system struggles to cope with the amount of effluent flushed down the toilets in Westminster, an explosion of poop could happen at any moment. Though if history is a guide, the Palace will probably catch fire again and be rebuilt (it's had several fires in recent years that could have engulfed the entire Palace Of Westminster, if not for quick actions being taken).

Buckingham Palace has historic value to the nation, I'd like to see it kept in good condition and opened up more to tourists (once the pandemic is over). The Queen can carry out her duties from just about anywhere if push comes to shove.
 
tapzilla said:
Still cheaper than the cost of repairing the Palace of Westminster - In the region of £6 billion. The Victorian sewage system struggles to cope with the amount of effluent flushed down the toilets in Westminster, an explosion of poop could happen at any moment. Though if history is a guide, the Palace will probably catch fire again and be rebuilt (it's had several fires in recent years that could have engulfed the entire Palace Of Westminster, if not for quick actions being taken).

Buckingham Palace has historic value to the nation, I'd like to see it kept in good condition and opened up more to tourists (once the pandemic is over). The Queen can carry out her duties from just about anywhere if push comes to shove.
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There’s a lot of effluent in the Palace of Westminster, not just down the toilets.
 
STJ_95 said:
The BP upgrade is being funded by the Sovereign Grant, which is a proportion of the profits of the Crown Estate - that being owned by the Crown, not the government or the public. The Sovereign Grant also only represents 25% of the Crown Estate profits, the remaining being being held by The Treasury to form part of the governments income.

The Crown owns the Royal Palaces (not the Queen, but the Crown as in each successive monarch) and as such the Crown assets are used to fund the Crown. With additional estates of Lancaster to further fund the monarch and Cornwall to fund the Heir.

This is the Crown funding their costs, and still contributing to public coffers by paying tax on their income also.

Also, refering to the art collection, it doesn't all belong to the Queen personally, merely held in trust by the monarch. Only parts of the collection are personally the Queens.

And in terms of the crown Estate assets, which contribute to the public purse, in the event of the monarchy being abolished, all those assets would quickly be sold off, probably on the cheap to friends of the governing Tories to their mates, like when the Royal Mail was sold on the cheap.

Now I'm not condoning Prince Andrews actions, and I certainly don't endorse him being funded as a senior royal any longer, but overall the current way of funding the Royal Family is probably the best way it can be. Because if you say the Royals have to be totally self-funded without anything going via the Government, then you have to say they the right to retain the whole Crown Estate profits for their funding as a minimum, which would actually mean less money going to the Treasury.
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Thanks for explaining all this.
 
This thread is so interesting! Really enjoying your posts and learning a lot.

I find Will and Kate pretty dull, and don't think there is any chemistry between them at all. And if what was said earlier in this thread is true, kind of weird the way she pursued him, egged on by her mum it sounds like. Quite sad really as I think they both could have happier relationships than theirs appears.

I don't dislike Harry and Meghan, possibly because I'm not invested in them enough to know everything that's going on. It's nice to see some balance on here in discussing them though. I have no issue at all with people not liking them, but the venom toward them from some people (not referring to this thread) is borderline concerning. Really quite strange to be that raging about people you don't even know (unless they're actually criminal/do hateful things), when most things said about them is speculation.

My boyfriend's mum hates Meghan. She's always mentioning her and one day I said what exactly is it you don't like? As I was genuinely curious and she couldn't even tell me. I think for some people it's just a subconscious absorbing of sensationalist headlines in the Fail etc. To be honest if I was them I would have wanted to get the hell out of there too 😂

I like all the historical chat in here. I bought Wolf Hall and found it pretty tough going and gave up (it was the start of lockdown and my brain was just not in concentrate mode haha) but might give it another go after the positive mentions here.
 
slugella said:
I find Will and Kate pretty dull, and don't think there is any chemistry between them at all. And if what was said earlier in this thread is true, kind of weird the way she pursued him, egged on by her mum it sounds like. Quite sad really as I think they both could have happier relationships than theirs appears.
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Carole Middleton is arguably way more interesting than her daughters but she's older and not a public figure so there isn't much goss about her. I think Kate is sweet, but a bit dull and completely controlled by her mother. She reminds me more of Michael Middleton, while Pippa seems to have more of Carole's cunning streak.

Carole herself is attractive and made a good match in Michael Middleton, and she taught her daughters similarly. I think Kate and William ending up together was a combination of Carole's maneuvering, Kate's natural attractiveness, and sheer luck because no one else that Wills was interested in wanted to be married to him (Isabella Calthorpe, anyone?) and Kate was willing to put up with the kind of behavior a lot of these women from good families weren't willing to deal with (I've heard from a friend working for the papers in London that the Rose Hanbury rumors are an open secret, but major British Press are not allowed to discuss it).

Pippa had a string of relationships with well-connected men but none of them married her, and she went back to James Matthews (who is wealthy but from an average family) once she got older. It's a good match for them both because James has money and Pippa has connections to high society via Kate's marriage. I don't like Smuggy Meggars at all (who has A LOT of her own issues) but let's not pretend that Kate is the epitome of class.
 
svdwoodsen said:
think Kate and William ending up together was a combination of Carole's maneuvering, Kate's natural attractiveness, and sheer luck because no one else that Wills was interested in wanted to be married to him (Isabella Calthorpe, anyone?) and Kate was willing to put up with the kind of behavior a lot of these women from good families weren't willing to deal with (I've heard from a friend working for the papers in London that the Rose Hanbury rumors are an open secret, but major British Press are not allowed to discuss it).
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If you are upper class you can live quite happily married to some other rich posho without having to bother with the Royal nonsense. Kate didnt have the same old money connections. Shes got what she wanted and will do as shes told for the foreseeable. She waited around for so long she doesnt have any experience of doing anythi g else, which is probably why shes so dull. It was the same with Harry. No one wanted to marry him until Meghan. No one was begging to marry either of them but Harry likes clever women with careers. They were usually too clever to marry him though!
 
Vanillaco said:
If you are upper class you can live quite happily married to some other rich posho without having to bother with the Royal nonsense. Kate didnt have the same old money connections. Shes got what she wanted and will do as shes told for the foreseeable. She waited around for so long she doesnt have any experience of doing anythi g else, which is probably why shes so dull. It was the same with Harry. No one wanted to marry him until Meghan. No one was begging to marry either of them but Harry likes clever women with careers. They were usually too clever to marry him though!
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Being Royalty in the UK seems like an exhausting way to live since people are so interested in them and they're constantly in the press as a result. In many ways, I think Pippa's life is much more pleasant than Kate's. Isabella Calthorpe's situation is ideal because she's from a posh family and married the handsome son of a successful billionaire. I'm sure neither of them have to put up with much bs from one another given they're equally eligible and they don't have to deal with the press and constant scrutiny. I can't imagine anyone wanting to deal with the British paparazzi unless they really feel like it's worth it.
 
svdwoodsen said:
Being Royalty in the UK seems like an exhausting way to live since people are so interested in them and they're constantly in the press as a result. In many ways, I think Pippa's life is much more pleasant than Kate's. Isabella Calthorpe's situation is ideal because she's from a posh family and married the handsome son of a successful billionaire. I'm sure neither of them have to put up with much bs from one another given they're equally eligible and they don't have to deal with the press and constant scrutiny. I can't imagine anyone wanting to deal with the British paparazzi unless they really feel like it's worth it.
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ie they love their husband.
 
I feel sorry for Kate. I've always been fiercely independent, I could never live in a shiny palace doing as I'm told, dressing as I'm told, and living a rehearsed life. She has no drive or hunger in her (pun unintended) to want more for herself. I think she'll realise just what she sacrificed when her children have all grown up and left the nest. Maybe not. Maybe she's very happy. I don't see how, but it's not my life.
 
CarrieW24 said:
I feel sorry for Kate. I've always been fiercely independent, I could never live in a shiny palace doing as I'm told, dressing as I'm told, and living a rehearsed life. She has no drive or hunger in her (pun unintended) to want more for herself. I think she'll realise just what she sacrificed when her children have all grown up and left the nest. Maybe not. Maybe she's very happy. I don't see how, but it's not my life.
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Yes what you think is the ultimate goal when you are 18, especially when your mum and frankly the world and most fairytales and Disney films you have ever seen tell you is the ultimate goal isnt necessarily what it is in your 50's, but maybe she'll be Queen by then!
 
Norbs said:
ie they love their husband.
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I don't doubt that Kate loves and cares deeply for William, but if he wasn't the future king, I highly doubt that she'd put up with half the tit that she puts up with, and I don't mean just the trolls and the British Press, which we all know was brutal towards her. Their courtship was basically a decade long and during it, he dumped her quite a few times and even pursued other girls during those breaks. Now Rose Hanbury rumors have been floating around and who knows how many more that we just aren't aware of. I can't imagine putting up with that and I doubt Kate would've either if he wasn't such a "catch" (debatable in itself but for her and Carole, he clearly was).

Phil Anne Throw Pee said:
Carole Middleton is grim. I know someone from their town and apparently she's very 'don't you know who I am?' Still, her daughters have achieved her life's aim, which was for them to marry into money. Job done.
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Carole has a very nice figure, especially for her age, and you can tell she was and is an attractive woman, but she has a very hard face. Pippa suffers from the same problem. It gives off a very shrewd and unkind vibe.

In contrast, James, Kate, and Michael all have much kinder albeit tired looking faces.
 
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svdwoodsen said:
I don't doubt that Kate loves and cares deeply for William, but if he wasn't the future king, I highly doubt that she'd put up with half the tit that she puts up with, and I don't mean just the trolls and the British Press, which we all know was brutal towards her. Their courtship was basically a decade long and during it, he dumped her quite a few times and even pursued other girls during those breaks. Now Rose Hanbury rumors have been floating around and who knows how many more that we just aren't aware of. I can't imagine putting up with that and I doubt Kate would've either if he wasn't such a "catch" (debatable in itself but for her and Carole, he clearly was).



Carole has a very nice figure, especially for her age, and you can tell she was and is an attractive woman, but she has a very hard face. Pippa suffers from the same problem. It gives off a very shrewd and unkind vibe.

In contrast, James, Kate, and Michael all have much kinder albeit tired looking faces.
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Carole in particular looks as hard as nails, and looks pretty rough at times as well, I could see her in a catfight quite easily
 
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