Should they stay or should they go?

Should we keep paying the royal family

  • Yes lets keep paying them £38m a year

    Votes: 4 22.2%
  • Yes but lets cut the bill down

    Votes: 4 22.2%
  • No lets stop paying them

    Votes: 2 11.1%
  • Lets get some of that money back

    Votes: 4 22.2%
  • Off with their heads

    Votes: 4 22.2%

  • Total voters
    18

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
I've just learned that the queen tried to use the state poverty fund to pay for her gas and electricity bill for Buckingham palace.
The state poverty fund was put together to help those unfortunate individuals who live on or beneath the poverty line. That would be pensioners and the unemployed. The fund also helps schools and hospitals, yet the queen wrote to the ministry arguing that she could not sustain payments for her gas and electricity since it has increases by 50% making her annual bill £1m.
Nationally schools, universities, hospitals and housing associations share from a fund of £60m yet the queen is already given £15m a year.

I say enough is enough!
Turn Buckingham palace in to a tourist attraction and let's get some money back!!!
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
Oops sorry made a mistake the queen is not given £15m a year she is given £38m a year for the the upkeep of the palace and to pay for her staff.
And boy she needs it because Bucking Palace has over 800 staff members, 775 rooms over 40,000 lightbulbs, 40 acres private garden with a heliport, private lake (note lake not stream) and the world's single largest collection of clocks and watches (and that takes two full-time horological conservators wind them up every week and keep them in good working order).
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
The news wasn't the sensation, it was the very fact that the monarchy are clearly contempt and the fact that they tried to acquire funding through such a scheme.
Unbelievable!
 
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treeve

Major Contributor
It is that kind of attitude though that has brought the heritage of this nation to its knees. Her Majesty simply posed the question rather than actually commandeering the fund.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
No she tried to obtain money set aside for the most needed.... whilst enjoying her status in the worlds rich list... That is why the country has turned on the monarchy.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
No the public lost respect for them many years ago.
Fed up with funding a bunch of drunken over educated land hogs. At the height of my employment I was paying over 50% tax and a good proportion of that was being given to the royals.
The public are barred from seeing where the money is spent, they don't insure their buildings so we end up paying for fire damage like Windsor Castle.... that's why the public have no respect for them.
Windsor Castle was a good example. Before the fire the royals claimed it was private and theirs. After the fire it was suddenly a public building with artefacts important to our heritage... total rubbish! they side stepped the tax paying public to suite their own pockets. This latest attempt to gain funds under their charity- aid status was just disgraceful.
 

treeve

Major Contributor
Basically this is an 'us and them' situation, anyone paying 50% tax is getting good money, and you cannot get as drunk as them, you are jealous. :)
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
No I'm not jealous ::11: I could get as drunk as them but that is not what this is about. Wake up... the queens applied for funds that were set aside for the poorest of our country whilst sat on a personal fortune of nearly £320m and her jewellery is worth £90m
This is NOT about jealousy, this is about robbery!!
 

treeve

Major Contributor
Another point to remember is that the Queen's Household acts on the advice of The Queen's advisors. Frankly it is all peanuts in comparison to the Military Purse and the cream off that filters its way into the political scene (expenses ignored) and cream off on the contracted front. It is a joke.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
My point I made about my high tax bill was because I was earning enough to pay super tax. The difference was that I had to give a huge amount of the money I earned to the government. Whereas the royals keep their income and get money each year from the tax payers.
They get income from land, trusts, charities, stock market, ministers, their own business ventures, public entrant fees and the royal crest (worth a staggering amount of income to them) yet they still see fit to try and pressurised the government to raid the pot of money put aside for the poor because they are greedy and self centred... and above all surplus to requirements.
Trust me when I say the royal family will collapse as soon as Elizabeth dies.
 

46traveller

Member
I'm afraid The Queen has become a quaint tradition, her powers have been eroded to the state where any new law, act or statute now put before parliament goes straight through with the Royal prerogative or assent no longer necessary or needed, it's now automatic. I'm afraid she is now just a drain on the commoners purse. All the Royals have to offer now is various tourist attractions, if these fail to make a profit, then as in any business, I think job cuts should be in order, or perhaps if they cannot possibly do without hundreds of staff, they should consider moving to a smaller abode, Windsors handy for town. That would free up Buck House as a six star hotel with plenty of parking, and enough room for a Mall with the usual fast food chains paying vast sums to open an outlet. I am sure the resulting finances would more than cover any Royal requests for help regards heating Windsor or Balmoral. Some of the Royal art collection, namely those bought using public funds (Our Heritage don't ya know) should or could be taken on tour to schools and universities and the like. At present the majority of these great works are kept in hermetically sealed containers and only see the light of day to be checked or cleaned. This work should be shown, not kept for the select few to ogle and then put back. Never gonna happen, and that's sad for the Country not just us.
I dread to think of the future when/if Charles gets upgraded, interesting yes, but at what cost.
 

treeve

Major Contributor
It is still peanuts compared with the massive rip off from mismanagement and overspend in other departments of government. Get Real.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
It is still peanuts compared with the massive rip off from mismanagement and overspend in other departments of government. Get Real.
This is not about comparison, this is about a family that has a vast amount of public money thrown at it because they demand it.
But if we were to compare the waste of money between the royals and the government.... at least at the end of the day we could vote that government out and prevent future loses.... we don't have a choice with the royals so it seems.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
@46traveller your suggestion is sound. The amount of tourist income enough would probably fund the 2012 Olympics. The rest of the money could be used to secure the state of the palace and do the necessary work to keep the building in tip top condition. Clearly I'm a man of business so I would expect to offer the royals some percentage of the income and ask them to return to St James's

PS
I've added a poll but I see some of you have already voted.
 

trepolpen

Major Contributor
The Queen is a standard bearer for the State' Our internationally respected Monarchy has been part and parcel of our democratic state for centuries. Her Majesty carries out a million and one important duties as our representative and I'd be amazed if it were for the sheer joy of it. It must have been immensely taxing for her physically and mentally and she is to be respected for loyally carrying out these tiresome formal duties on behalf of the State without complaining.

The enormous buildings in which she and a large royal staff work must require an increasingly monstrous sum to heat them. The vast heating systems within them are not only for the Queen's personal comfort but for the protection of the fabric of the buildings which are hardly the Queen's own cosy little residences by choice. Surely it would have been the Queen's team of aides, managers and financial advisors who would be looking for a way to lessen the blow of vastly increased fuel bills, and this in the light of her important and dignified position by which our nation stands to be judged around the world. I also believe, without really knowing exactly, that as part of the Nation's proud heritage, much of these buildings will be the partial property of the State and open to the public.

How easily, we judge the situation of other individuals who are tied up mainly through their un-asked for circumstances and responsibilities. It is as though the Queen is solely responsible for her household and as though she swans around for her own pleasure's sake without performing any service for the State. People don't seem to realise that there is much more to all this than just selling off artworks and historical items from our heritage.

I am very grateful indeed that I am not a member of the Royal Family especially when so many people want to slag them off without knowing the real facts of their position, being content to believe all that the media tell them.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
@ Tpp our prime minister only gets £600k a year plus expenses and he has more power and more control over the country than the queen.
The cost of the royal family is far too high even you must agree that £38m a year just for the staff and upkeep of Buckingham palace is extremely high.
It doesn't matter that her advisor's tried to obtain money put aside for the poor, the fact that they tried is bad enough.
The public are sick of the amount of money thrown at the royals. One second Windsor castle is a private estate... and then suddenly in a burning mess it becomes a public liability. Buckingham palace is a private residence, but I bet as soon as money needs to be spent on it suddenly its a public building again.
You have to agree that things are imbalanced when you take a look at the queen to see her staff level at 800 just for the palace whereas in contrast it only takes 600 to form a whole government!
 
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