Is the Royal Family worth keeping ?


A question or two, that is often thought, probably by many people:

Is the Royal Family worth keeping?..

Are they worth the financial expense?..

A report in 2008 showed that the cost of the Monarchy to the tax payer is about £40 million. £1.2 million of this was spent on catering and hospitality and £600,000 on housekeeping and furnishings.

Two questions that I saw:

  • Is £40 million too high a price to cover official engagements, charity work and the tourist income that they generate?
  • Is it time Britain did away with an hereditary monarchy altogether?

Time for some research, to find out how these payments began, after all, the Monarch originally gained its income direct from their own taxing system, and other dues.

In 1760, George III agreed to surrender all income from the Crown Estates, in return for a fixed annual payment from the Treasury, called the Civil List.

Should Britain change to a president or something similar?

Remember the figure above: £40 million for the British Monarchy.
In France, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, had a budget for the year of 110 million euros (£90 million), twice as much as the British Monarchy. So much for the French Peoples Revolution (1789–1799)…
In 2008 the British monarchy costs £1.33 to every taxpayer, for the entire year. That is the grand sum of 2.5 pence per week, per taxpayer.
In 2008 the Crown Estate passed over £226.5 million profit to the British Treasury. About £7.53 per British Taxpayer.
Going by those figures, the British monarchy is a good profit maker to the UK economy. But…
We also need to add the Tourism financial benefit.

What do people think about the value of the Monarchy?

A poll in the Guardian in 2009, had 69% saying that the Monarchy was a right royal rip-off.

How much does Britain get from the Monarchy and overseas tourism ?

The Tower of London had 2.38 million foreign visitors last year, at a price of between £8 and £19, depending on adult, child or group rates. So lets say $14 each = about £33 million. And that is just for the Tower of London.
It is estimated that in 2009 foreign tourists spent about £4.6 billion on the culture and heritage trail in Britain. That is £152.95 per taxpayer. About £22 of that goes direct to the treasury in GST.

I think that the British Monarchy is still performing very well for the country in a Financial way.


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