Britain’s most high-living welfare beneficiary is having her house done up – all at taxpayers’ expense, mind you! – and some of her subjects are revolted:
Yesterday it was announced that the royal residence [Buckingham Palace] is to undergo a major 10-year refurbishment.
The hefty bill will come from a 66% increase in the Sovereign Grant – the funding for the monarchy’s official duties – for the 10-year period, with the total works estimated to cost £369 million.
But thousands of people think the royals should foot the bill for Her Maj’s luxury pad.
A petition suggesting The Crown and its estates should pay for the renovations has received just shy of 15,000 backers at time of publishing. [Currently up to 114,000 of the required 200,000]
Mark Johnson, who set up the petition, said … “The Royals expect us to dig deeper to refurbish Buckingham Palace. The Crown’s wealth is inestimable. This is, in a word, outrageous.’ …
It is … forecast that the work … will reduce the palace’s carbon footprint by 40% in the future.
[Hat tip Alice Jackson]
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2 comments:
If the royal family had to live within their means they could, they would just scale back a bit. Then as free individuals they would also be free to renounce the various functions they perform which support government and tourism. Then governments, including here in NZ, would be left with the complex and expensive question of what to replace them with. It should be noted that a head of state with a political power base ( ie. A president) has not been a universally successful power structure. As a NZer I see several benefits of having a powerless and remote head of state. So if the UK sees value in spending some coin to maintain the status quo and keep the crowds coming to the palace then we in NZ should really be thanking them.
Anyone for President Helen?
Give the royals a paintbrush each and invite the cameras in. Reality Royals. I would pay not to watch that.
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