whats the point of the royal family apart from living free of our money?

Answer 1

The point of the monarchy is that we have a head of state untouched by party politics. Look at America, where half the population loathes their head of state. More and more people may be indifferent to the queen, but few hate her. People only gather outside 10 Downing St when they want to protest. People go to Buckingham Palace on occasions of national celebration (the end of WW2).

As for the extended family, I have a problem with people like Prince and Princess Michael of Kent living in Kensington Palace for £67 a week, but most of them are able to act as patrons of various charities and organisations, represent Britain abroad (Prince Andrew is a roving ambassador for UK trade), and bring pleasure to the millions of people who enjoy a bit of tradition, pageantry and romance in this otherwise drab, workaday modern world.

You may still disagree with the concept of monarchy and not believe the extended family should have a public role, but in fairness you can't say they're doing nothing.

Answer 2

The Royal Family, headed by the Queen is not only the
most outstanding person in the UK but also in the whole
Commonwealth. We are proud of her and, likewise is the
Commonwealth, and I dare say that Queen Elizabeth is
the number one attraction in the United Kingdom, not
only as the Queen, but as an outstanding person that is
worth more to us than the cost of the Royalty. My only
hope is that some Royal figure succeeds her with half
the charisma she has always shown us, and to the whole
world. This chore will be very difficult so all I can say is
"God save the Queen" - PS. I am a Scotsman, born in Glasgow!

Answer 3

Does everything need to have a 'point'? After adding the income they generate from tourism, they cost us around £30 million per year. That's money that would just be p***ed away by politicians and civil servants anyway.

The value of that 61p that you put into the country every year gives you (or at least many people) a sense of pride that there is something in our country which is unique, and instantly recognisable to half the world. That every time you walk through Parliament Square, you are treading on the same ground that was walked by a line of heritage that can be traced back 1200 years. Yes, they're totally pointless and irrelevant in the modern world - if she was really head of state, I'd actually be opposed.

But their very anachronistic existence is something very British, and I would never want to get rid of them.

Answer 4

Royalty is the best PR and marketing machine for the country. They can rely on a huge web of influential people and can really establish very good things for a country.
Example Bernhard (prince of the Netherlands who died a few years ago) was the one with the idea for a wildlife fund to preserve the wildlife. He was one of the founders of WWF.

By the way a president would be more expensive for the country than a royal family!!!

Answer 5

There is no point. They bring in tourists? Maybe, but so do the dungeons at the tower of London and no one wants them brought back into use. If monarchy is such a good idea then why is no country introducing that system? Because it's totally and utterly undemocratic. The last remaining symbol of the dreadful class system in the UK.

Lets have a republic of Britain. It's called democracy. Power to the people!

Answer 6

This Q always gets a lot of unsubstantiated claims from royalists about the benefits if having a monarchy. What about some substantiable claims for a change. E.g. about the extremely duff examples of behaviour shown by various members of the Windsor clan, about the hugeness of the income you mention, about the lofty style of Brit monarchy compared wth the various others across Europe, about the very well paid public relations machine working daily to protect their status quo... shall I go on? Australia's Republican movement is rapidly gaining ground Down Under, perhaps a sign of the times for UK.

Answer 7

Well... the royal family have always been a bunch of parasites that have sponged off the nation and the alternative is a dictator like Blair or even worse Bush!

Answer 8

Leave them alone please !! I think they're great..think about this, what would Britain be without the Royal Family ? Just another boring, insignificant country !!!
Ask anyone anywhere in the world to tell you the first thing that they think of to say about this country and they will mention the Royals!!
They bring in a lot of tourism and the whole country benefits .They are a national treasure !!

Answer 9

In asia, monarch is more respected than those in europe, largely due to what their grandpa had done long long time ago. They are the unifying factor, the defender of the poor, defender of faith, defender of the country, umbrella for the whole nation to take shelter on, provide a positive image which can be followed, highly revered and the list goes on.....

Answer 10

I think you lot are very lucky to have the Royal Family. Think of the people in other countries where their governments are full of corruption and have politicians who dont know much except knowing how to screw ''their'' people over time and time again.

Ye have Tony Blair who appears to be a nice genuine and intelligent man,who knows what he is talking about and then look at GW Bush who doesnt know how to speak properly.. he confuses his nation! He is also far from genuine!!!