£102.4 million

Or just people with a different opinion to you.

I think a number of people on this thread remind me of Oscar Wilde's comment about cynics: people 'who know the price of everything and the value of nothing'.

So once we have dismantled the historical DNA of our country what will it be replaced with? & how ‘fair’ ‘ equal’ will it be…..?
Equality sadly does not & will not ever exist ….. beating the same old drum won’t change a thing , ……… I am once again beating my own favourite drum regarding this topic.

True Pantglas

If monarchists don't think the monarch should perform any constitutional role as head of state, what do they think the point of the monarchy is?

Er I frequently have to work in schools that hold all sorts of beliefs that dont align with mine. Lots of people experience that.

Anniebach

McEnroe is a hypocrite, criticising a Wimbledon custom but
no problem with his Wimbledon pay cheque

And he was happy to accept the trophy from the HRH duchess of Kent - the time to make a stand was then surely?

Did you go public about your workplace and does your workplace carry out practices you find are against your beliefs ?

I was criticising my workplace just yesterday.

McEnroe is a hypocrite, criticising a Wimbledon custom but
no problem with his Wimbledon pay cheque

You could be right. Not in my lifetime I don’t think.

I know this is only my opinion cut and pasted or not Casdon we are all entitled to our opinion. And I know more people in U.K. want the monarchy but the percentage has fallen to 60% more younger people want an elected Head of State. It was good to see John speak out against bowing he too is entitled to his opinion. I did not start this thread about the rise in money for RF and I think my comments about the cost of an hereditary monarch is relevant

maddyone

Casdon with respect I really don’t think we’ll be getting a vote on whether we have a royal family any time soon. Do you?

Not in the near future, because all the polls indicate the Royal Family still has majority public support. At some point in the future there would be if polls indicated that the support had diminished considerably.

Casdon with respect I really don’t think we’ll be getting a vote on whether we have a royal family any time soon. Do you?

Grany

Casdon

Grany we aren’t going to agree on this. If you go to another country you follow their rules and conventions unless you have no manners whatsoever. You can criticise as much as you like from the outside, but it is irrelevant to that country.

What ridiculous rules bowing to RF? John McEnroe was right to point this out many other people will think the same it's laughable.

This ridiculous RF that gets £345 million of our money. Sovereign Grant payment never goes down always up. Queen given £30 million recently what was that for? And RF overspent by £14 million what was that for paying for Andrew?

RF don't work hard as found out by Giving Evidence RF and charities if you took time to read it. So they have plenty time persue their own interests using private jets and helicopters causing massive amount of pollution so no concern for the environment?

Don't get involved in constitutional issues concerning this country.

So why do we have this expensive relic as a Head of State.
British RF is one of the most expensive monarchies and we have cost of living crisis millions going to food banks.

RF should be funded like every other public body getting public money and be accountable that's another story.

This is only your opinion Grany. Your opinion is not worth more than other peoples. The fact is that the people of the UK will determine the future of the Royal Family, not you, not republic, not John McEnroe. You can make as much noise as you like, you can and do appear on every single potentially relevant post on Gransnet and cut and paste your opinion endlessly, but ultimately you can only cast your vote if and when the time comes. John McEnroe's opinion will be worth nothing.

Grany

Should we put the royal family on a budget?

It strikes me as pretty extraordinary, that the question should be asked as to whether a major national institution, one funded by the government, should be put on a normal budgetary footing. Every institution in the country has to go through the annual process of reviewing its finances, proposing a budget for the following year and submitting that to whoever it is that approves their spending of public money. Except for the monarchy.

The only argument I’ve ever heard to defend this is that it maintains the monarch’s independence. But that doesn’t add up, because lots of public officials are required to be independent, including police officers, the judiciary and various regulators. And because the monarch is not independent, she is there to do what she’s told by the prime minister. It also makes no sense because we can look around at other parliamentary democracies, including other monarchies, in Europe and see heads of state that have annual budgets set by parliament.

The royal household’s funding is entirely arbitrary, linked not to what it needs but to the rising profits of the Crown Estate, a state-owned property portfolio. I say rising profits because if those profits fall, as they have as a result of the pandemic, the Sovereign Grant doesn’t fall. And if one year the royals don’t spend what they’ve been given they don’t return the surplus to the government, they keep it for a rainy day, without any impact on what they’ll receive from the government next year.

This is an arbitrary, wasteful, unaccountable and irresponsible means of funding a public body. It makes no sense unless understood as a way for politicians to avoid talking about royal accounts, or to obfuscate the nature of royal funding. It has no place in a democratic society.

I think they should be on zero hours contracts and minimum wage Grany. Mind then they'd probably try to claim Universal Credit.

Should we put the royal family on a budget?

It strikes me as pretty extraordinary, that the question should be asked as to whether a major national institution, one funded by the government, should be put on a normal budgetary footing. Every institution in the country has to go through the annual process of reviewing its finances, proposing a budget for the following year and submitting that to whoever it is that approves their spending of public money. Except for the monarchy.

The only argument I’ve ever heard to defend this is that it maintains the monarch’s independence. But that doesn’t add up, because lots of public officials are required to be independent, including police officers, the judiciary and various regulators. And because the monarch is not independent, she is there to do what she’s told by the prime minister. It also makes no sense because we can look around at other parliamentary democracies, including other monarchies, in Europe and see heads of state that have annual budgets set by parliament.

The royal household’s funding is entirely arbitrary, linked not to what it needs but to the rising profits of the Crown Estate, a state-owned property portfolio. I say rising profits because if those profits fall, as they have as a result of the pandemic, the Sovereign Grant doesn’t fall. And if one year the royals don’t spend what they’ve been given they don’t return the surplus to the government, they keep it for a rainy day, without any impact on what they’ll receive from the government next year.

This is an arbitrary, wasteful, unaccountable and irresponsible means of funding a public body. It makes no sense unless understood as a way for politicians to avoid talking about royal accounts, or to obfuscate the nature of royal funding. It has no place in a democratic society.

Casdon

Grany we aren’t going to agree on this. If you go to another country you follow their rules and conventions unless you have no manners whatsoever. You can criticise as much as you like from the outside, but it is irrelevant to that country.

What ridiculous rules bowing to RF? John McEnroe was right to point this out many other people will think the same it's laughable.

This ridiculous RF that gets £345 million of our money. Sovereign Grant payment never goes down always up. Queen given £30 million recently what was that for? And RF overspent by £14 million what was that for paying for Andrew?

RF don't work hard as found out by Giving Evidence RF and charities if you took time to read it. So they have plenty time persue their own interests using private jets and helicopters causing massive amount of pollution so no concern for the environment?

Don't get involved in constitutional issues concerning this country.

So why do we have this expensive relic as a Head of State.
British RF is one of the most expensive monarchies and we have cost of living crisis millions going to food banks.

RF should be funded like every other public body getting public money and be accountable that's another story.

I wouldn’t set foot in Dubai (apart from the airport in order to pick up a connecting flight) if you paid me in gold bullion. Nor most, if not all, of the other Arab states. I disapprove totally of their treat of gay people and of the lack of human rights in these states. I’d be afraid of putting a foot wrong and ending up in prison. Glossy shopping malls and glossy hotels don’t interest me at all either.

Grany we aren’t going to agree on this. If you go to another country you follow their rules and conventions unless you have no manners whatsoever. You can criticise as much as you like from the outside, but it is irrelevant to that country.

At least America has a written constitution anyone can read unlike our archaic system of government backward Britain

“Who were the performers here? The players, right?

“So why were they bowing to someone else when they were about to provide the entertainment?

“Those people in the Royal Box should think about bowing to them.”

Well yes I would quite like us to be 'better' than that.

Galaxy

Er it's fine for people from other countries to comment on another countries way of doing things. I have commented on Americas gun laws, on gay rights in Dubai etc etc.

Try going to Dubai and criticising their government when you are there to commentate on tennis tournaments.

To be honest I am interested in the views of people from other countries I like a different perspective. I think America could really benefit from listening to some European countries on gun control for instance.

Galaxy

Er it's fine for people from other countries to comment on another countries way of doing things. I have commented on Americas gun laws, on gay rights in Dubai etc etc.

Of course it’s fine for people to comment Galaxy. What’s not fine is to assume that those comments will be valued by the citizens of the USA in the same way that comments from its own citizens are.