Steve Shaw - 10 Jun 16 - 02:04 PM

Well I wish the woman well, but I'm not going to be celebrating the long life of an extremely pampered woman who has travelled the world in luxury in order to get crowds of cheering natives to wave plastic union jacks at her from behind ropes under the gaze of watchful armed guards and who milks the public purse of tens of millions per annum, not only for her own use but also for the benefit of her mostly exceptionally useless extended family.

Well Shaw you are about what? At least 20 years her junior? You would not last one week in her shoes and she has been doing that for over 64 years. Those cheering natives elected representatives on gaining independence actually chose the Queen as their Head of State, they didn't have to - their choice. Your rather fanciful notion about the armed guards was rather amusing and I cannot remember ever seeing any official state visit by any head of state where the military and armed security were not present.

Steve Shaw - 10 Jun 16 - 04:06 PM

Well she does cost you about 67p per annum. Me too. I regard that as very bad value.

Well No Shaw she doesn't, she doesn't cost you or any other tax payer a single penny. The 67p per annum is a figurative cost not an actual cost. So much for your milking of "the public purse of tens of millions per annum, not only for her own use but also for the benefit of her mostly exceptionally useless extended family".

Up until the Civil List payment ended in 2011 the payments had been the same for 20 years - how many people do you know who have not had a pay rise for twenty years Shaw?

Since the demise of the Civil List the costs of our Head of State are paid for out of the profits from the Crown Estate.

The upkeep of Royal Residences which are buildings that form part of the Crown Estate but are used for official state functions are also paid from the Sovereign Grant.

Not a penny of tax payers money has ever been spent on any of the Monarchs family even in the days of the Civil List payment. Costs of the members of the Royal Family with the exception of the Prince of Wales and his family are met from the profits from the Duchy of Lancaster, separate from the Crown Estate.

All costs related to the Prince of Wales and his family are met from the profits from the Duchy of Cornwall, separate from the Crown Estate.

After having paid for all this the Treasury receives in full the remaining 85% of the profits of the Crown Estate plus the normal tax on the profits from both the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall - in short a collective contribution to the Exchequer of something between £250 and £300 million per annum.

The "cost" of our Head of State is about two-thirds the cost of the President of a country like France and far, far cheaper than say the costs associated with the President of the United States of America.

We only have to pay for one Head of State at a time and there is no pension whereas with time limited term Presidents you have to pay the costs, the wages and the pensions of Presidents past and present. Costs of state functions remain the same irrespective of whether the Head of State is a Monarch or an elected President.