Dave - Thanks. The only paper I ever buy (about 3 times per winter) is the Daily Fail. Partly for the pleasure of shaking my head in disbelief at the drivel they publish (& morons presumably believe!), but mostly because it represents the best value in terms of pages per penny for fire-lighting. I kid you not! ;-)

I sometimes keep up with the BBC News site, but often don't, so no, I have not the foggiest what's been going on in Italy. Thank you for the info. Italy, of course, is a vastly different country. I'm always very wary of comparisons of that ilk. Socialists will always point to the likes of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, going "Look how well Socialism works" whilst ignoring the vast differences. The Leavers kept pointing at Switzerland & Norway, going "Look how we can thrive outside the EU"... whilst ignoring the vast differences.

As for what they cost... Everyone can play Pin The Tail On The Donkey to their own satisfaction / biases. Any estimate inevitably runs into "We don't know what the economy would look like if the monarchy was abolished". But a quick & fairly cursory squint around the net suggests that they generate considerably more GDP than they cost, even if you add in less visible costs such as providing security for them. The argument against them is a political / moral / philosophical one, rather than economic.

Sandman - The Queen has voluntarily paid income and capital gains tax since 1992 on her private income and the revenues not used to finance her official work. The Prince of Wales ditto since 1993.