Comments on: What does the royal family do, and how to they get paid?

By: cnthair

cnthair — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:29:43 +0000

they dont to anything except prance around and act important. the queen spends her time not dying.

By: Joe from WI

Joe from WI — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

They (like other wealthy people) have multiple streams of income. The Royal Family travel the world much of the year.

By: dgal96

dgal96 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

They play cricket and ride horses and talk about how rich they are and I know this for a fact that they get paid by the government! hop I helped

By: Vernon S

Vernon S — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

that’s pretty good. you answered your own questions.

By: John

John — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

i think the only thing the queen can do is that if the Prime Minister wanted to go to war he would need her say so

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

They don’t really need to get a job to get paid, everything they want comes out of the people’s pockets

By: Paco

Paco — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

For starters you are grossly underestimating the difficulty or time it takes to be the personification of a nation. You could just as easily argue that the POTUS spends a great deal of time being the "personification of the Unites States". Very specific functions that the POTUS does, like visiting Sub-Saharan Africa (which is usually done once a presidential term) cost a fortune, cost over $50 million each time. Visiting Beijing or Latin America, or Malaysia costs a similar amount (but not quite as much). The Vice President of the US has very little specific political power, except to be the tie breaking vote in the Senate. The care and feeding of the VP, including his mansion and his jet is huge.
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Specifically, they get different grants every year from the government’s money which they raise through taxes. One for travel, one for property maintenance, and and one for the "civil list". They are required to report out their expenditures and are reviewed by the National audit office. It is an arrangement that parliament and the sovereign agreed to in 1760. Parliament takes the proceeds from property that traditionally belongs to the monarch by right of conquest in 1066, and in exchange pays the monarch this money to maintain palaces and to run their staff (roughly 1200 people). The traditional property of the monarch is pretty extensive, but it includes Great Windsor park, and a lot of very expensive property in downtown London (like Regent Street and all the stores). The property is collectively called the "crown estate" and it turned over 265 million pounds last year. About 40 million pounds was turned over to the monarch to run everything.
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The standard argument is that the monarchy costs 40 million pounds for a country of roughly 60 million people, so the cost per person is 66 pence. In reality a lot of that goes for palace upkeep which the nation would have to pay anyway even if they were museums. The rest would probably be spent on a president and his staff anyway. So if UK became a republic, the average taxpayer wouldn’t notice a change, and the UK would be represented by a president instead of a monarch. Very few people outside of Europe can tell you the name of a European president, whereas The Queen is one of the best known heads of state in the world. The economic impact on world diplomacy, and tourism, and the country’s charities of a famous monarch far exceed that of a president.

By: Clo

Clo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

Too many people can’t seem to grasp that the royal family doesn’t earn a salary;they are independently wealthy,the Queen’s wealth coming from investments and the Duchy of Normandy.The Civil List,which is funded by taxes,pays office workers,secretaries,housekeepers,maids…
http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/Overview.aspx
I wouldn’t say that the royals don’t work,either.Here is the Queen’s schedule:http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/DayInTheLife/Queensworkingday.aspx
Here is her role in government:
http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/HowtheMonarchyworks/TheroleoftheSovereign.aspx
Here is what Charles is involved in: http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/
This is what the Duke of York does:http://www.thedukeofyork.org/Home/Home.aspx
And Anne,the Princess Royal is noted as being a hard worker like her mother:http://www.royal.gov.uk/ThecurrentRoyalFamily/ThePrincessRoyal/Publicrole.aspx
I would not call being the Head of State,roving ambassador for International Trade,president of Save the Children,or head of the successful organic farming cooperative,Duchy Originals,not working.

By: Alfie

Alfie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

They don’t actually get a salary or any kind of paycheck. The government gives the Queen only something called a civil list, which is money she uses for the upkeep of the palaces, to pay for head of state visits, state dinners, and staff pay (all of these things would still need to be paid for under a republic). Their real money that belongs to them comes from property they rightfully own. You’d be amazed how ignorant people are about royal finances. They cost nothing that wouldn’t also need to be paid for under a president. Her official function is as head of state, a real government job that requires her to work nearly everyday and a job that would have to be done by someone else if she didn’t.

By: Piltdown Man

Piltdown Man — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:09 +0000

They don’t do anything, except wave out the odd window, and cut the occasional ribbon when opening bridges. And they get paid their millions by taxing the plebs, who happily tolerate this injustice.