A Monarchy in Crisis

One of my favourite books that I got for my
Bat Mitzva and have kept all these years. 

I've always been a staunch Monarchist. I love the pomp and ceremony. It adds to the unique flavour of the UK. The Monarchy brings in tourist revenue. It emphasizes a connection to other Commonwealth countries, ties which can only be beneficial. I like that ordinary people who do extraordinary things can be rewarded with a knighthood - a purely honorary title with no cash prize. 

The Queen has been a model of dignity, duty, and good manners. In good times and in bad the British public enjoys her support and encouragement via television broadcasts. The Queen's speeches are unifying in a way that only football and natural disasters can compare (and we don't have street parties for natural disasters).

My attitude thus far has been that they do their jobs and I do mine. All careers have pluses and  minuses and there are plenty of overpaid civil servants, that's just the way it is. But now I'm changing my mind. 

"The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian."

Is it acceptable that a woman who owns vast swathes of the country and is paid from taxpayers' money, should be able to hide the fact that she is wealthy to the tune of billions of pounds? 

Last year the Duchy of Cornwall made £21 million profit which went straight to Prince Charles' private purse. Last March (arguably before we knew the extent of the economic crisis to come) he raised rents on the Isle of Scilly, of which he owns most of it. Some leasholders have seen their rents increase from less than £100 a year to arounf £7000 a year in the space of a few years. 

The 1967 Leasehold Reform Act gave leaseholders the right to buy their freehold at a price calculated according to set guidelines. This law does not apply to land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Leasehold rents are usually a nominal yearly charge but it means that when the lease is up, the land and your property, and any improvements you made, all revert to the freeholder. You have nothing to bequeath your children, you have no equity and you cannot get a mortgage on leaseholds with few years to run. And certainly no one is going to buy a property with less than a 99 year lease so you can't sell and move somewhere else. 

Prince Charles owns four palatial residences in England, Scotland and Wales, for his family of two. This is a complete throwback to when the world had a quarter of its present population and the poor "knew their place". Do we really want a king who lives so much in the past that he hires a man to dress him in the morning and put toothpase on his toothbrush? Is this sort of extravagant lifestyle at the expense of the working people going to be a model that we can repsect? Are we going to look to King Charles for support in times of crisis? I think not. 

Then we have the arrogant, entitlement of Andrew who in any other role, would have been fired without keeping all the perks of the job, incuding living in a grace-and-favour mansion. 

Harry and Meghan are playing at being Prince and Princess of LA. She says, "we are not ranked, we are linked," whilst fiercely retaining her HRH and Duchess titles. She sues photographers for publishing a photo of the back of her baby's hooded head but releases photos of other people's children when she visits a school during lockdown where the parents aren't even allowed to enter. And lies to the court in another of  their multiple and potentially money-making law suits. Whilst at every opportunity lecturing us about our responsibility to heal the planet (from their 16-bathroom mansion) and being kind to one another (although not to her own father, obviously). 

It's not Andrew and Harry that bring down the Monarchy. Every family has rogue members. They are no longer working Royals (even though Harry thinks he still is) and we don't have to see or hear from them (except that Harry and Meghan haven't quite got the hang of the privacy they craved and so we do see and hear from them. A lot). The complaint is that we the public, are still paying for their extravagant lifestyles, directly or indirectly, and the Queen and Prince Charles continue to fascilitate this violation of privelege. This is not just not a parent and grandparent supporting children, This is public employees abusing their position which, it seems, is above the law. 

The covid pandemic and ensuing economic crisis has made extreme privelege and extravagance much more of an issue than it ever was. With internet informaton, nothing can be hidden from the masses. We need a fresh start with a new approach to the British Monarchy. 

I would like to see Prince Charles stand down and let William and Kate become the next King and Queen (or whatever title she gets). The civil list should be restricted to them and them only. (It's a fallacy that public appearances by other Royals bring in any extra revenue for the charities they patronise.) King William would be the figurehead for all the three military branches. If they send other family members on official visits, they should be paid a daily rate - same as everyone who travels for work. 

Other members of the family can keep whatever properties they own if they can afford them - same as all other stately home owners. But leaseholders living on their lands must have the same rights to buy their freeholds as any other citizen. Grace-and-favour properties belonging to the crown should be subject to rent with the revenue going to the public purse. 

 Save the Monarchy but make it real for the 21st Century.