The British Monarchy

[Parsifal]

^  One man's experience. 

[Kev]

Americans being mostly brainwashed to worship power and money is part of the reason so many Americans fawn over the British Royal Family.  Another part is, even when we grow up, we remember being read and told stories about royalty.  That makes it partly nostalgia.  The final part is also because of the stories.  Americans have no actual direct experience of living in a monarchy, so that makes it an interesting sort of novelty as well.  Also, at this point, many Americans do not truly know how to live without extremes as we are also brought up from childhood by most of our parents to see everything in life as binary combined with many things thought to be compulsory, hence the US propensity for religious zealotry and bigotry.  Although, the US right-wing spent most of the 20th century brainwashing poor white people to be against their own best interests while emboldening and encouraging that same religious zealotry and bigotry.

Huh?

[Jwb52z]

I don't want to make this thread about me, so I won't ask you to explain what you don't understand and just move on from here.

[thatwouldbetelling]

£160m was paid out of taxpayer's money to cover the mourning period and the funeral of the Queen. Much of that came from the culture, media and sport budget. It would have paid many times over for all the arts funding that was cut last year. Meanwhile, an even bigger chunk came from the home office budget - which would have paid more than ten times over a double digit percentage pay rise for nurses. I sit on the fence with regards to the monarchy - I know that they bring income into the country, but I'm also aware that it is only their birth-right that gives them what they have. And yet...

The King is said to be worth £1.8bn.

We pay the funeral costs for one of the richest people in the country, while the poorest get heavily in debt to pay for the funeral of their relatives. No matter what you think of the monarchy, THAT is an utterly grotesque situation.