Do we actually need the Royal family?

[smokey]

I can imagine them tourists thinking "Oh wow...a real live queen! JUST Like in the fairy tale"

We where in Windsor about a month ago (we live about 5 minutes from there) and LO saw the queen and just shouted out "its the queen, wow" really excited, never even realised he would recognise her

That's so lovely we used to live very near Windsor too (about 10 minutes from Eton) and I keep meaning to go back to take LO to Windsor castle - strangely, I've never been inside despite always living near there. The Queen came here last year but Joel slept through the whole thing...

My dad was a guard there, you know the ones with the big black bearskin hats so I spent a lot of time running around there as a child.
LO loves hearing about what his granddad used to do and going to see the changing of the guard.
He has only been inside once but was so fascinated by it all I really didn't think he would be that interested but he loved all the armour and swords and paintings and especialy the big dolls house and his granddad has a lot of ghost stories to tell him when hes older

 

[Pearls18]

I can imagine them tourists thinking "Oh wow...a real live queen! JUST Like in the fairy tale"

We where in Windsor about a month ago (we live about 5 minutes from there) and LO saw the queen and just shouted out "its the queen, wow" really excited, never even realised he would recognise her

That's so lovely we used to live very near Windsor too (about 10 minutes from Eton) and I keep meaning to go back to take LO to Windsor castle - strangely, I've never been inside despite always living near there. The Queen came here last year but Joel slept through the whole thing...

My dad was a guard there, you know the ones with the big black bearskin hats so I spent a lot of time running around there as a child.
LO loves hearing about what his granddad used to do and going to see the changing of the guard.
He has only been inside once but was so fascinated by it all I really didn't think he would be that interested but he loved all the armour and swords and paintings and especialy the big dolls house and his granddad has a lot of ghost stories to tell him when hes older

My hubby did guard duty in Windsor 2 months ago, he's doing Buckingham Palace next week, but he's not a guard he's an RAF soldier that does ceremonial duties and we always think how disappointed tourists will be when they turn up and see a bloke in an RAF uniform and boring cap instead of a bear skin

 

[Quackquack99]

Just out of curiousity but can the queen declare war or is that a myth?

 

[smokey]

Just out of curiousity but can the queen declare war or is that a myth?

Technicaly yes she can as part of her royal powers that was never rewritten.
But if she ever did just on her own back that pretty much would be the end of her reign.
She doesn't need parliament backing but generally its the prime minester that would make that call and send troops out on her behalf.
And the PM can over rule her on this if he thinks shes just having a hissy

 

[Harveysmum369]

I am amazed that in 16 years they've managed to go from being hated(after the death of Diana-I'll admit I wasn't a fan..) to being so loved.x

 

[Bex84]

Not tecnically needed but a big part of our history and tradition. They do bring in tourism. We have had no monarchy in this country before with oliver cromwell (he who banned christmas boo!!! Lol) taking power and charles I been beheaded but control was later given back with reduced control to charles II. I dont think most of population care enough one way or another to push a movement to remove a monarchy which isnt directly harming the country. Other countries have removed monarchy at times of extreme unrest, modern monarchy does not exert the power it once did. I know alot of people who i served as a waitress when i was a teenager who were not from uk said they came here due to royal family

 

[deafgal]

I was thinking how Diana died. I know the royal family really don't want to be a tourist attraction.

 

[beanzz]

I don't like the royal family at all. We don't NEED them, people just like them. But hey, the tourism brings in a shit load of money so maybe I shouldn't complain about them.

 

[bumpy_j]

I can imagine them tourists thinking "Oh wow...a real live queen! JUST Like in the fairy tale"

We where in Windsor about a month ago (we live about 5 minutes from there) and LO saw the queen and just shouted out "its the queen, wow" really excited, never even realised he would recognise her

That's so lovely we used to live very near Windsor too (about 10 minutes from Eton) and I keep meaning to go back to take LO to Windsor castle - strangely, I've never been inside despite always living near there. The Queen came here last year but Joel slept through the whole thing...

My dad was a guard there, you know the ones with the big black bearskin hats so I spent a lot of time running around there as a child.
LO loves hearing about what his granddad used to do and going to see the changing of the guard.
He has only been inside once but was so fascinated by it all I really didn't think he would be that interested but he loved all the armour and swords and paintings and especialy the big dolls house and his granddad has a lot of ghost stories to tell him when hes older

My hubby did guard duty in Windsor 2 months ago, he's doing Buckingham Palace next week, but he's not a guard he's an RAF soldier that does ceremonial duties and we always think how disappointed tourists will be when they turn up and see a bloke in an RAF uniform and boring cap instead of a bear skin

Does he have to do the no smiling/speaking thing too? That's the bit the tourists love!

 

[deafgal]

Yeah! I always wanted to tease them and see if I can get them to smile

 

[smokey]

I can imagine them tourists thinking "Oh wow...a real live queen! JUST Like in the fairy tale"

We where in Windsor about a month ago (we live about 5 minutes from there) and LO saw the queen and just shouted out "its the queen, wow" really excited, never even realised he would recognise her

That's so lovely we used to live very near Windsor too (about 10 minutes from Eton) and I keep meaning to go back to take LO to Windsor castle - strangely, I've never been inside despite always living near there. The Queen came here last year but Joel slept through the whole thing...

My dad was a guard there, you know the ones with the big black bearskin hats so I spent a lot of time running around there as a child.
LO loves hearing about what his granddad used to do and going to see the changing of the guard.
He has only been inside once but was so fascinated by it all I really didn't think he would be that interested but he loved all the armour and swords and paintings and especialy the big dolls house and his granddad has a lot of ghost stories to tell him when hes older

My hubby did guard duty in Windsor 2 months ago, he's doing Buckingham Palace next week, but he's not a guard he's an RAF soldier that does ceremonial duties and we always think how disappointed tourists will be when they turn up and see a bloke in an RAF uniform and boring cap instead of a bear skin

Does he have to do the no smiling/speaking thing too? That's the bit the tourists love!

When I was about 2 my dad was on guard duty and I saw a guard who I thought was him because you cantr see much of their face.
I went running up to him shouting daddy daddy and got really upset because he wasn't responding.
I had this massive 99 icecream though and droped it on the guards shoe and the guard stammed his foot and slammed his gun and bayonette down and I ran away squealing
My mum didn't know to laugh or swing for him (my mum was well known at the barracks for not taking any shit)

 

[bumpy_j]

Hahahahaha, awh that's so cute! But what if they need to go to the toilet? Or, well anything? Get a bee stuck in their coat? Or someone pretended a banana was a phone (gets me every time)? Whatever they're paid, they're not paid enough

 

[deafgal]

One thing I learned about bees (and we get tons here) is...Keep calm and carry on.

 

[smokey]

Hahahahaha, awh that's so cute! But what if they need to go to the toilet? Or, well anything? Get a bee stuck in their coat? Or someone pretended a banana was a phone (gets me every time)? Whatever they're paid, they're not paid enough

Don't know if its changed but back then a guard can be severly punished (normaly barrack detention cells or a fine even striped of rank) if he was caught laughing.
Ill have to ask my dad about the toilet but with a lot of things like that irt was a case of should have took care of it beforehand.
Many years ago when he was in trooping the colour a guard passed out with heat exhaustion and was punished because it was his responsibility to make sure he was hydrated enough to go on duty.

 

[Pearls18]

Hahahahaha, awh that's so cute! But what if they need to go to the toilet? Or, well anything? Get a bee stuck in their coat? Or someone pretended a banana was a phone (gets me every time)? Whatever they're paid, they're not paid enough

They work for a set number of hours, I can't remember how many now but it's not a massive amount, they do a 24 or 48 hour mount but you do shifts of say for example 2 hours on then 4 hours off (I can't remember what the hours are) so you don't go to the toilet while you're on the mount but in your down time while waiting for your next shift.

 

[Pearls18]

Oh and if you faint at Buckingham palace they throw you off the squadron and send you to another that doesn't do guard duty.

 

[mummylove]

I dont think we do yes people say they bring billions in but they also take billions for them selves as well

 

[Feltzy]

Do people fully understand the finances of the royal family though when they say they cost us millions each year? The revenue raised by the crown estate always seems to get overlooked, which is WAY more than what they get from the sovereign grant. They're not allowed to touch the money raised by the crown estate any more because it was surrendered by King George III in return for the sovereign grant.

I kept reading people saying they were a drain on tax payers but I didn't fully understand it myself so looked it up, its not as simple as people sometimes think.

I love the royal family, more so in recent years since Prince William and Harry. I think they have a really refreshing attitude, they try so hard to be 'normal'. For instance William and Kate refusing a Royal nanny, working and providing for his family etc. Obviously they are still 'privileged' in many peoples eyes but no-one really knows how difficult it is for them living the life they live. You can't judge it on monitory value alone.

To answer the question, I don't think we 'need' the Royal Family but it'd be a big shame for me if we didn't have one any more.

 

[fantastica]

Many Republics have good tourist industries without a monarchy and surely if the monarchy was abolished then tourists would actually have more access to historically important sites. Although the Queen may have not really used her powers, there is always a chance that someone could in the future.

What extra historical sites are you referring to? there is very few places that are royal related places that are not public and those few are because they are lived in residence. Would you want people trapsing through your home taking photos?

I was referring to the lived in residences, and obviously they shouldn't be open whilst they are occupied, but i'm not sure they should be lived in at all.

Out of the top 20 tourist attractions in the UK only 1 is anything royal, so I don't really know how or where all these figures come from.

 

[Harveysmum369]

I dont think we do yes people say they bring billions in but they also take billions for them selves as well

Prince Charles has his own company,the Queen and all of the royal family pay tax-I think you'll find they bring in more than they take...x