Feeling rather sorry for The Queen

merlot

So the obverse of that is the headlines in the national papers is 'Remarkable Woman still Works part-time at NINETY! '

Followed by an article on the pros and cons of holidaying in the UK
'Why go to the Costas when you can enjoy the beauty of Scotland and the joys of Norfolk?' Why not 'Stay at home and help the UK economy'
Answers on a postcard

The queen doesn't have to do what she does she could abdicate, get rid of the pomp, give away all her worldly wealth and decamp to a council estate, if there are any left these days, as portrayed by Sue Townsend.

"All the miserable carping from envious people with huge chips on shoulders isn't going to matter one jot. She will still enjoy her holidays."

merlotgran adding a to the end of your post does not take the sting out of what you said.

I sincerely hope she does enjoy her holidays, they are costing the taxpayer enough but to accuse people of having a chip on their shoulder is offensive.

I don't see people as being miserable because they disagree with me and to assume they have a chip on their shoulder infers an ingrained feeling of resentment deriving from a sense of inferiority and sometimes marked by aggressive behaviour. I haven't interpreted that from any of these posts...or have I missed something?

Thank you Linsco, I am use to it though, any criticism of the royals is regarded as one step away from the tower on this forum

they are costing the taxpayer enough
I do not think they cost the taxpayer anything at all, unless it is for police protection.
She stays in her own private homes and presumably uses her own private wealth for her holidays.

Buck House, crumbling away, is owned by the state, it isn't a home.

I meant they are not charging the taxpayer for their holidays, jut to clarify.

The police protection when they are in Balmoral is very heavy ,I expect the poor Scots are terrified of an incident , the wrath of some would descend on them

When the Queen holidays at ­Balmoral every summer the Met sends dozens of uniformed officers to Scotland. Grampian Police also use their own patrols and armed ­response vehicles...all at a cost to the taxpayer.

Grampian Police have calculated the cost at £1.2m per year.

We seem to have strayed a bit from the original subject but ..... all those holidays.
It is not all good. One of the saddest pieces of royal footage I have ever seen was the Queen at the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia. (Just one of Blair's sins. Yes, yes totally off subject I know!)
Much as we love to see the Queen showing some emotion, this one I find very hard to watch.

I couldn't bear it, Shellseeker As soon as the Royal Marines started playing 'Sunset' I had to disappear to the kitchen.

Softie.

If we didn't have the royal family we would still need a head of state and there would still be security to be paid for.

!

I only have to hear the opening bars of 'Sunset' and I'm done for

Apparently it costs the taxpayer £6m a year to protect former PM Blair...

And of course there are all the other ex PMs who probably don't gad about as much, but it all mounts up!

Then perhaps time to consider a Presidency.

Why, Linsco? Would we leave ex-presidents without any protection? On second thoughts, that would be a good way to stop them interfering, just cut the protection and let the assassins get rid of them.

My final post was in response to "If we didn't have the royal family we would still need a head of state and there would still be security to be paid for."

I was perhaps being a little facetious.

Queenie could have bought Brittania . Why should the tax payer have bought her a new one ? The public refused to pay for repairs to Windsor

The saddest I saw was her tears when she came to Aberfan.

If we had a president we would have yet another election every few years and it would mean only the very, very wealthy could stand

It would mean we wouldn't have to pay for protect for over fifteen homes though

My s-i-l used to play that. He was in the Royal Marines. Did a stint onboard.

that was to merlot

That makes more sense - I thought it was about ex-pms as in the post immediately before yours. Mind you, the president and his family, and ex-presidents, still have to be protected. Ex-presidents seem to live long lives, and keep their fingers in whatever is going on.

There are only two ex presidents are there not? And we don't house all their extended family j

Why should the tax payer have bought her a new one
I think because it was not used for just an occasional holiday, it was used for affairs of state, networking with foreign dignitaries, trying to encourage trade between countries etc etc.
If the taxpayer had bought a new one, it still would not have belonged to the Queen and would have been used for other purposes too.

I don't think foreign presidents, diplomats, etc would have been too impressed if HM had offered them a night or two on that old car ferry she chartered to sail around the Western Isles.

and it would mean only the very, very wealthy could stand
Like Trump? He does have a Scottish mother, so would be eligible.
Or Philip Green perhaps? He's wealthy enough.