66p

by Asp | 28 Jun 2008 | No Comments

With growing inflation, it’s no surprise that the Royal Family have spent more this year than last year. They’ve cost the taxpayer £40million in the past 12 months – an increase of £2million.

Or, to put that another way, 66p per person instead of 62p.

Personally, I think that represents outstanding value for money. For 66p you can’t even buy 66 penny sweets nowadays. It’s less than the price of this morning’s paper. I think it could get me 1 track off itunes – if I used that instead of buying CDs as I prefer. In this day and age, it’s nothing.

Never the less, republicans have jumped on the publication of the Royal Accounts as another chance to dismiss the monarchy. It doesn’t include the rising costs of security – OK, they’re not going to be insignificant, but overall it shouldn’t cost more than a Chomp bar each. They’re saying the increase of £2million is huge – but realistically it represents a reduction in costs considering inflation.

It is a lot of money, let’s be fair. But, someone needs to calculate what money the Royals bring into our country. People visit London just for a chance of seeing the Queen (particularly Americans). The tourist industry is huge as people check out Buckingham Palace. Various Royals have particular roles. The Duke of York is the UK’s “Special Representative for International Trade and Investment” – he encourages people to invest in UK business and, as I understand it, does a fantastic job. Everyone’s role at public functions has immeasurable benefit in terms of publicity for the organising body (often a charity) and pride for those people who meet the Royal Family.

I’m yet to hear a convincing argument to get rid of the Monarchy. Conversely, given the present state of our government, I’m sure it would be quite easy to make a convincing argument to let The Queen ignore conventions and start running the UK as she wants to!

~ Asp

See: BBC News, Times Online, CNN

Little note – The Northern Monkey (or Snake) is off on annual leave for the next month. Peace and quiet beckons throughout July, rantings will return in August.

Categories: A Northern Monkey Speaks, Monarchy, Royalty, The Queen

No Comment »

  • ThunderDragon said:

    Also, that 66p per person includes the up keep of the royal palaces, which we would need to maintain anyway, even if we abolished the monarchy!

    # 28 June 2008 at 4:22 pm
  • Matt M said:

    I’m yet to hear a convincing argument to get rid of the Monarchy.

    There’s no need to get rid of it, just stop funding it with taxpayers’ money.

    If, as is often claimed, it’s such a great tourist attraction then it can no doubt get along by charging people to look round the palaces and selling memorabilia.

    # 28 June 2008 at 6:43 pm
  • ThunderDragon said:

    Matt, that ignores the very fact that most of what the Queen “owns” actually belongs to the state, and not to her personally.

    There is absolutely no argument to stop funding the monarchy yet having them retain their position. And if we did abolish their position, our entire political system would have to be re-organised to take it into account – with someone being paid to perform the role.

    Besides all that, 66p per person every year is tiny peanuts in comparison with any other government expenditure – 99% of which has far less real benefit or impact for us, the people.

    # 28 June 2008 at 8:31 pm
  • Asp said:

    Matt – another point to make is that the tourist benefit of the Royals is more than just looking at Palaces. People need to travel to London (travel industry), stay in accommodation (hotel industry), need substance (food industry), and might not actually venture into the palace to have a look round. But they’ll still want to see the outside of it.

    It’s an overall benefit that needs to be considered. Not just how much they could charge…

    # 28 June 2008 at 8:36 pm
  •   Oath Of Loyalty To The Queen by The ThunderDragon (author) said:

    [...] The Queen is simply a unifying figurehead and symbol of our nation, and her entire family costs us just 66p each a year, for a more than full-time [...]

    # 16 August 2008 at 2:05 pm

Comments

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.