Raggytash & Guest

The sites and the information are all readily available, but:

(1) "he's also Lord High Admiral, does that carry a salary of any note?"

No - the title is purely honourary.


(2) "The people you mention who are "subsidised" by the Queen, who pays for the upkeep of the properties they live in, do they pay a rent do they pay for transport, utilities and the myriad of other expenses that you and I have to fork out for on a daily basis."

They do, they all pay tax even the Queen herself pays tax. If however, they are performing "official duties" they will be trnasported to and from engagements and it required to remain overnight their accommodation will be paid for - they themselves will receive no actual pay for carrying out those duties. I take it that if you or "Guest" were required to attend an interview some distance from where you lived you would expect that the party inviting you to attend would cover your travel expenses, overnight accommodation cost and a per dium allowance for incidental expenses.

(3) "What the early guest and now myself wish to ascertain is the true cost of sustaining both the immediate and the wider royal family. I for one suspect it is far higher than we are led to believe."

The true costs for sustaining the Royal Family are borne entirely out of the income from "The Crown Estate"; "The Duchy of Lancaster" & "The Duchy of Cornwall", they are viewed as tax deductable expenses against the profits generated by those three estates as it worked out last time I checked into the coffers of the Exchequer:

The Crown Estate paid £230million
The Duchy of Lancaster paid £4million
The Duchy of Cornwall paid £8million

That is AFTER all expenses of the Royal Family immediate and wider have been met - They cost the Tax Payer - NOTHING - ZIP - ZERO - NOT ONE BRASS RAZZOO

PS - Hands up all those who have been "working" for the last twenty years without a pay rise??

If we had "Elected" Presidents what would their expenses be?? I believe that they would cost us one hell of a lot more than the present Royal Family does. How many terms would any one President be allowed to serve?? What would their pension (index linked no doubt) be? Security for all for the remainder of their lives? Oh it would all come out of what was formerly The Crown Estate but the net return to the Exchequer would be much lower.