I do not like pageantry, ceremony, ritual of any sort but this is a personal opinion rather like my not liking sprouts or opera; and OK some people do like these things and I'm glad we're all different. The problem occurs when we look at the function of the pageant and who pays for it. A circus parade is harmless and if you don't like it you don't pay to watch it. But much ceremony has a sinister function being designed to intimidate, overawe, exclude or terrify. Witness those grim parades of weapons and missiles in the USSR a few years ago. Or witness much church ceremony with the clergy wearing strange robes, chanting and performing pseudo-magic.
Most, I regret to say, have already have accepted the 'I haven't got any children why should I pay for yours' attitude in 'I didn't go to university, why should I pay for you', and our universities are now the world's most expensive. The difference here is that in the first statement the speaker will have already benefitted from education him or herself and is just paying into the pot which may benefit him or her in the future. In the second the speaker may indeed benefit from the education of another person at university. Nobody benefits from the millions we waste on royalty.