If that was aimed at me, all I'm trying to do, after my rollicking from Jeri, was to get the thread back on topic. The royals' rather disreputable doings are, at best, peripheral to politics in this country. They are, of course, on the other hand, tabloid heaven, which is perhaps what you'd prefer to indulge in. If we are permitted just one politics thread, then I think we have far more important and urgent things to chat about. You could, of course, start a royals thread, which you may get away with because our royals clearly have, arguably, more appeal across the ocean than they do here.

By the way, Maggie, as for attracting tourists, locations relating to our royals seldom make it into our top twenty tourist attractions. It's far more about our long history, our national monuments, cathedrals, ancient cities and the rest, and our culture. The royals' role in attracting tourists is received-wisdom myth. Look it up.