Should payment towards the Royal Family be made voluntary?.

Kali If you are referring to my post about Cheelu, it is irrelevant as she has already gone. I suspect that, following the lavish encomium on a dedicated thread, she was very upset by the deletion of one of her posts, though whether that was because she was ashamed of the unacceptable comment she had made, I don't know. On the other hand, maybe you're referring to something else and someone else all together and I am simply reacting like a Pavlov dog to your frequent comments about emotional illiteracy and same old behaviour with which I have been charged before.

I wonder how much tourism income we would lose if we didn't have the Royal family and all that Royal history. 1000 yrs of "interesting" monarchs and political intrigue and well doumemented historical records, look at the literature etc. it has produced.
We have a lot of castles and ruins that the Americans in particular love and will visit if they can.

I cannot help thinking that the pomp and ceremony also brightens up our dull lives here. If it is 62p per person it doesn't sound too bad when you think of how much money it probably brings in.

I am not a mad royal fan but our monarch is only technically head of state and its more a ceremonial role than anything else.

As for the crown estates, I think the "Royal family" only actually "own" Sandringham and Balmoral apart from their private houses. But I will be open to any one who has better information.

butty your comment made me remember this song, lyrics by Joe South. Lets all song along folks....La-da da da da da da da

Oh, the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean

Chorus
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking 'bout you and me
And the games people play

Oh we make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die
That the other was to blame

Neither one will give in
So we gaze at our eight by ten
Thinking 'bout the things that might have been
It's a dirty rotten shame

Repeat Chorus

People walking up to you
Singing glory hallelulia
And they're tryin to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord

They're gonna teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope, cheat your faith
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board

Repeat Chorus

Look around tell me what you see
What's happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity
To remember who I am

Cause you've given up your sanity
For your pride and your vanity
Turns you sad on humanity
And you don't give a da da da da da

Repeat Chorus

Sorry Nellie didn't mean to blank your post. I think we crossed in hyperspace. Good points actually.

Life would be boring without any games.

Come on. Toughen up a bit folks.

Bags love the absent/cheelu thing.

Nelliemoser Good to get back to the subject and away from all this other irrelevant nonsense (including a quasi religious musical interlude).

Having the palaces,castles, etc. wouldn't change if we didn't have a royal family – they'd still be there. Previous posts on other threads have suggested that if we had a president, people wouldn't come to see him (it's almost always taken for granted that a president would be a man), whereas they do come to see the Queen. When do they get to see the Queen? No one wheels her out on to the Buck House balcony three times a day. I don't know how many Gransnetters have actually seen the Queen in the flesh, let alone done the curtsey and walk off to the right to make room for the next, but I would guess that they are in a minority.

I agree that the pomp and circumstance is usually done quite well in the Uk but surely that's just State Opening of Parliament and Trooping the Colour on a regular basis.

Depends on the games J. Quite toughened up enough for my own needs - and feel no need to toughen up to anyone else's standards, whatever they might be.
@feelingphilisophicalthismorning

#feelingreallyhardthismorning

Nellie Actually, not just technically head of state with a mainly ceremonial role it would seem. It is now emerging that the Queen and the Prince of Wales have very much more active fingers in the pies of legislation than we have previously been led to believe. Details are due to be released but there is much wriggling going on behind the scenes to try to conceal what has been happening.

Apologies for the strange mixture of metaphors.

Yes indeed, lets get away from 'irrelevant nonsense' such as....
"As far as I understand from a bit of trawling through past threads and from an avalanche of pms, cheelu was a fairly recent member of Gransnet who was sometimes gently mocked for her remorseless cheerfulness and rather simple questions. (I was temporarily away from Gransnet most of the time she was very active.) She crossed swords with at least one other Gransnetter and later one of her posts was deleted by GNHQ. I don't think I have seen any posts from her since then, but I am not certain. From what I read of her posts, she seemed harmless, if unimaginative and rather banal, and it seems a bit sad if a kind and simple soul felt that she was driven away."
What's this got to do with the OP... La-da-da-da-da-da ????

So I can see J, so I can see.

@stillfeelingphilisophicalthismorning

I've got a bug. #myexcuse

Hope you're better soon J0 I'm off too, the market's in town.

Kali, it seems pretty simple to me. When Mey posted the following question:

Who is cheelu there are two threads in her name and people mention her a bit.

I answered her question. I think someone (*j07*?) mentioned cheelu somewhere right at the beginning of this thread so that, presumably, is why Mey asked.

I don't know why you've got into such a tremendous huff about it. It was just a small deviation; threads have wandered off the point before. [huge understatement emoticon]

Among my simple and pointless musings is a thought that Cheelu took refuge in the late Queen Mum's favourite castle.

Could be wrong of course

PS I'm far too lazy and useless at maths to do any calculations. I just googled, What does the Royal Family cost us?

62p a year each.

Does 62p each include security? I suspect not.

Don't know about security. here

Some for stuff here but no conclusions. I suspect the debate about financing the head of state could go on ad infinitum with no-one changing their opinions.

Should have said "some more" there. Actually, I thought I did, must be a gremlin in the keyboard.

merlotgran If that were the case, why would anyone go through such a purposeless and pointless pantomime as to ask who cheelu is – not once, but at least twice?

Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get it!

Nah! Nothing like!

I think the government calculates the cost of the royal family in an "interesting" and off-the-books kind of way.

In addition, both the Queen and the Prince of Wales decide how much tax they will pay, having been forced to pay something. Inheritance tax was not payable on the Queen Mother's estate and, presumably, won't be on the Queen's, so how much tax do they not pay simply by right of birth?

Why don't you just back off and drop it Absent enough is enough?

Well you don't have to. respond Kali.