What do the British get out of having Royals?

Question

I'm an American and don't really understand the concept of royalty in it's modern context. All the functions of government can be carried out without them. The UK seems to have religious freedom and variety. On what basis do the royas exist?

Answer 1

Obviously you're american... so you wouldn't understand... you have to be british to know what we get from them.... see ya

Answer 2

The quite regular "soap opera" type scandals, they wave at us now and then from a distance and then of course every Christmas there is the Queen's speech which we look forward to immensely all year long. It is really heart warming for us to see our beloved Royals and their enormous extended family enjoying themselves on the French Riviera at our expense,it makes us all feel so proud that we have contributed to their frolicking down in Monte Carlo. Bet you can see now what you have been missing out on all "tears" eh,  I mean years.

Answer 3

As a Brit, absolutely nothing.

Answer 4

england itself like all non-American countries has no right to exixt, we must invade, destroy their culture and government and execute their royals immediately

Answer 5

Basically tradition along with pomp and circumstance.  I rather envy the brits for having a royal family i.e that being tradition, loyalty to the monarch, the pride.  Not to mention the royal s**t that people just love to read about.

If you do not look at it from a traditional point of view, then think of having a  monarchy in terms of monetary value.  Yes it is very expensive to "keep" the royals, however , the amount of tourist dollars Britain brings in because of the royals is phenomenal.  The tower of London, Hampton Court to name just two built by former royals, costs money to visit and hundreds of thousands visit Britain each year.

Answer 6

they have no purpose today, but of course hundreds of years ago they were "top dog", i think the only reason they're around today is so we can still have a currency.

Answer 7

pride & knowing  its somthing america  does not have that,s biger & better(lol)

Answer 8

what the British get out of a monarchy are a load of sycophants hanging on the words of a load of spongers

Answer 9

they get a great show

Answer 10

A constitutional monarch is like a non-political president. And since the royals in the United Kingdom live of their own wealth, that's another advantage.

The monarch is like a pivot or a fulcrum, on which the political parties, governing and opposition, balance. The monarch makes no decision, but is a reference point on which decisions are made. In an extreme case with a hung parliament,  the monarch could force an election. Otherwise, the duties are mostly protocol. Although in reality the royal family is extremely well informed on national and international politics, and has generally been able to offer advice and information to the Prime Minister, even though that is not the role of the royals.

Answer 11

higher taxes and the opportunity to have to look at the pic of an old hag for 60 years.

Answer 12

Here's one UK citizen's view: What do we get out of them? Tax bills. The UK doesn't change very easily so I suppose it's taking a long time to realise they are redundant. We have soldiers out there going short of equipment because of problems with funding and yet we spend a fortune arranging for an ambitious prince to go on a secret army jaunt. I suppose they do have a certain celebrity appeal - people like watching their triumphs and disasters in the same way they like watching fiction on the TV.

Answer 13

Vast amounts of money from tourists, American or otherwise, who come to gawp at everything royal.

Answer 14

They are what makes Great Britain, Great Britain.  Without them they would just be yet another island.  Great tourist attraction as well bring in multi millions of dollar in tourism.  They mentioned on 20/20 last week that they cost each taxpayer in England 61cents per year on their total tax bill; a real bargain I would say.