Royal Family

[kp]

Who pays for the royal family to live..It appears as though they don't work like regular people.. Who pays their bills?

[andy hughes]

The short answer is - we do! The Royal Family are paid an allowance from a public purse called The Civil List, money is allocated from Government funds pro rata for the Royals to carry out public duties. The fact that 'minor' Royals are paid from this fund gives rise to constant criticism of the Royal Family, who'se massive private wealth remains untouched, while they live a life of splendour funded by the British taxpayer. The favourite argument in favour of the Civil List is that the Royals bring in tourism revenue. Hmmm, Versailles hasn't seen a royal occupant for quite a while now, but you'll still have to queue to see it, but that's a side issue from your question. We pay for our Royal Family - value for money is a debatable point.

[incitatus]

What people forget about the civil list is that we dont pay it....When a monarch accedes they sign the civil list, which is a contract. The rights and priviledges of the monarchs property is given to the governemnt to administer, which then signs over an annuity to the royals. This property includes most of the Forestry commision, the rental on the houses of parliament the royal parks, the city of Lancaster and quite a few other nice bits of kit. The property makes a profit. If the royals administerd it themselves they would get far more money than they do now. It could be argued that this is property that should belong to the state, but it was inherited over the yers, fair and square. If you say that they shouldnt inherit, then you must apply this law to everyone. And as it constitutes a trust fund it is not taxable under death duties...

[Ewood27]

Further to what Incitatus says, if we didn't have a Monarchy we would still need a Head of State, presumably a President. It would still cost the nation money to 'run' a President, probably about as much as the Civil List - maybe more. The Queen has been doing it for 50 years, after all, and knows how it's done! Then there would be the cost of Presidential elections every so often. We get good value from the Royal Family, both in tourism and in straight cash.