Those royals wasting money again

AGNURSE you do know, dont you,that the royal family dont actually OWN the royal estates/crown estates.They were handed oer to the goernment by George 111 in payment of debts .He made a deal that the RF would get a small payment from them every year.That payment is still being made ..hundreds of years later.
How nice would it be if we could all claim money from something we dont own .

I volunteer £50 a year . Now go away and shut up . Basically .

The royals do not declare how much tax they pay versus earnings ! Apparently the queen pays a voluntary amount .......if only ?

I read that story too it was in the Daily Mail and it definitely said tax payers were paying the cost of the trip. It would have made more economic sense to have paid a chauffeur to drive him and Sophie. I am sure it would be comfortable in the back of a limo. A total waste of money in my opinion. He has obviously not been told the country is supposed to be in austerity measures. This when some people are told they can't have cancer treatment as it costs too much.

It was a jet M0nica . The photos prove it . If your DH ‘s company could justify his time /hourly rate against a private flight then so be it.

1. The U.S. actually spends more on the First Family than the UK spends on the royals.

2. The royals are the only family in the UK who are actually taxed twice. Their income comes from the revenues of the royal estates. That money goes to Parliament and then Parliament provides them with a salary, called the civil list, out of those monies. So they don't keep all of their income in the first place (tax #1). They also pay tax on the civil list (tax #2).

I didn't claim for private jets, gillybob nor, in this case did Prince whoever it was, the vehicle involved was a helicopter., but DH certainly claimed for the cost of private aircraft on several occasions and on one trip I hitched a lift with him.

gillybob Being pro monarchy does not make me a “monarchy worshipper”. The story came from the Daily Mail and the headline quoted a much larger sum than the actual text. You, yourself when you came back with a second comment raised the cost from £37,000 to £39,000, just showing how easy it is to add arms and legs in the retelling of a story. NB. I am not defending the cost per se as I am not sure of the accuracy and reasoning behind the arrangements, just commenting on how easy it is to retell inaccurately and without substance. I would be happy to read solid facts the commenting on the cost. Thank you mawbroon for keeping it light and real.

The reason for two years engagements on the same day was doing arrangements he had made and honouring the arrangements his father had made before having to retire.

Merlotgran,

Prince Andrew arrived here by helicopter a few years back in the Castle Grounds that's what I was thinking of!

I live in Tamworth and can only think of the Castle grounds as a suitable landing place, but then he'd have to walk through the town to get to St Editha's Church and our town centre is dire so I can't see that happening!!! Unless of course he landed at a small airport nearby (Birmingham ?) and was driven to the Church!

The Daily Mail criticism is but a drop in the ocean of the fawning coverage on the TV and radio and in most of the newspapers.

What was the reason for Prince Edward having to do two years engagements in different parts of the Country on the same day?

If you want to believe that he paid for the private jet that’s fine maddy629 but IF (and it’s a huge if) he did why not come out and say it ?
Of course he didn't pay whatever it cost (and I doubt that was £37,000, even the DM gets things wrong sometimes!!) - it came out of the Sovereign Budget!!

ie the money allocated to HM who pays it out to those carrying out royal duties, whether they be a Prince, a Duke, a PA, a washer-upper in the kitchens or whoever.

a supine media
I presume you are excluding the outraged DM from that description as that was the paper which brought all this to our attention

There is such a thing as the Queen's helicopter flight which forms part of the Royal Household. Wouldn't it have been cheaper for him to use that?

I mentioned this to DH who said:
"But the Royals get a set sum of money (the Sovereign Grant) allocated by Parliament to carry out their duties - this money must have come out of the budget for that - if he over-spends then why worry? There is only so much money in the pot, so one of the others may have to economise".

He is neither particularly pro-Royal nor republican, fairly happy with the status quo, but, as usual, straight to the nub of the matter.

How many private jets did you claim for though Monica I’m guessing none .

Anyway, he was on official engagements, so why should he pay? How many people on here paidd for their own travel expenses when they travelled on business - unless they were self employed? I certainly didn't. When I travelled on business, on my return I submitted an expense claim and was reimbursed by my employer.

This isn't just a one-off is it. There are often reports of various members of the royal family commissioning trains, planes and ships for their sole use. I think some people, me included, feel that being so profligate, and disregarding the effect on the environment that they claim to cherish, doesn't reflect well on any of them.

Those who have no enthusiasm for the monarchy, with its implicit acceptance of the notion of inherited privilege and power, are in the minority. But it is a much larger, and growing minority than a few centuries ago when even those who suffered at the hands of their kings and queens - taxed to the hilt in order for their "betters" to be able to satisfy their every whim and to engage in stupid wars - would defend them to the death. Thankfully, we've moved on a bit from that but still people genuflect in their presence and treat them like some sort of deity. It's astonishing what a good PR machine and a supine media can achieve.

The fact they can afford it, is depressing when most people earn less than £37k in a year and have to feed, house and clothe a family on it.

If you want to believe that he paid for the private jet that’s fine maddy629 but IF (and it’s a huge if) he did why not come out and say it ? I don’t worry about it btw it just pees me off that they openly waste money as they do, with no regard to their many “subjects” struggling to live and pay basic bills .

It was a private jet not a helicopter M0nica . So quite different .

gillybob how do you know he did not pay himself, does anyone here know? Why worry as long as you didn't have to pay? I would much rather have our royal family than a raving lunatic like the Americans have as President.

Mawbroon??!

Never thought I would ever to a link to The Sun, but here it is: www.thesun.co.uk/news/4950897/queen-money-economy-monarchy-2017/