Is the Queen of England going broke?

[Maikeru-sama]

Thought this was a pretty interesting article.

Elizabeth: The Zirconian Age

Quentin Letts, 07.07.10, 11:00 AM EDT

The Queen's visit to New York may be her last--on account of her dwindling finances.

The Queen is visiting New York, possibly for the last time. I say that not because she is now an octogenarian or because Anglo-American relations are in a poor state of repair (which they are, though not quite that bad). It's the money. Crossing the Atlantic for an official visit costs a lot of mullah, and mullah is something of which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, wearer of spangly crowns, is disagreeably short at present.

Vulgar of me to mention it, I know. The Royal way has always been to discuss the folding stuff as little as possible. Members of the House of Windsor do not, by and large, walk around London with their empty pockets inside out, wailing about cash flow. Well, Princess Michael of Kent (nicknamed "Princess Pushy") does something along those lines, but her royal cousins are generally more discreet.

The Queen would not be particularly thrilled if any New Yorker, meeting her today, tried to show friendship by adopting an expression of moist concern and pressing a few crisp greenbacks into her gloved hand. The bellboys of Manhattan or their equivalent may still be given the occasional tip. There will be no need for them to turn to the Royal visitor and say, "Keep your coins, lady, I know you need them more than me."

But the Royal finances are being squeezed to an uncomfortable extent, and diplomatic groans are emanating from the bean-counters at Buckingham Palace. They claim that our head of state could soon be "broke." One of the royal court's accountants has said that finances are so tight it may have to come down to feeding the Royal Family less.

Figures just released show that the Monarch will have spent all her reserves by the year 2012, the year of the diamond jubilee planned to mark her 60 years on the throne. She is down to her last 15.2 million pounds of savings, and next year that figure is expected to drop to 8 million. When you have four stonking piles to maintain (Buck House, Windsor Castle, Balmoral in Scotland and her Norfolk country home, Sandringham), the money soon evaporates.

In last month's budget our new government announced that the Royal Household would not be immune to the Whitehall austerity drive with which David Cameron's administration is hacking back at the dreadful national deficit. There will be greater parliamentary scrutiny of the Royal accounts. This is being done in the name of helping the Royal Family with its bookwork, but Parliament contains several roundheads these days. Its desire to obtain more detailed knowledge of the Queen's spending will be manna to the monarchy's enemies.

cont'd

 

[YosemiteSam]

Down with the Queen! :laugh2:

Really, they are nothing but figureheads now right? Sounds like a complete waste of tax payers money to me. I mean they live fat as hell and yet do nothing of any real value that I know of.

Then again I don't know a whole lot about what they do these days. They damn sure don't run the country.

No Kingship for you William! :spanking:

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Down with the Queen! :laugh2:

Really, they are nothing but figureheads now right? Sounds like a complete waste of tax payers money to me. I mean they live fat as hell and yet do nothing of any real value that I know of.

Then again I don't know a whole lot about what they do these days. They damn sure don't run the country.

No Kingship for you William! :spanking:

I agree with you, which is why I skipped this article which outlined who the riches monarchs were as if they actually earned that wealth.

I think it is all about "tradition" now and every now and then you hear folks in England talking about getting rid of Monarchy.

I'm just glad we don't have this in the United States.

 

[casmith07]

Kind of like how they have all those people that are Dukes and Earls and all that crap. Totally symbolic and historical.

 

[joseephuss]

Down with the Queen! :laugh2:

Really, they are nothing but figureheads now right? Sounds like a complete waste of tax payers money to me. I mean they live fat as hell and yet do nothing of any real value that I know of.

Then again I don't know a whole lot about what they do these days. They damn sure don't run the country.

No Kingship for you William! :spanking:

She(the Queen) did suspend the parliament back at the end of 2008. That is the Canadian parliament not England's. Seems she has more power over Canada than her own country.

 

[Doomsday101]

I always heard it was good to be the king. :laugh2:

[youtube]lZKiYgcgBAY&feature[/youtube]

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Well heck...there goes my plans to make her my sugar mama. :

 

[arglebargle]

There's a certain advantage to a Crowned head. They go to all the parties, events, PR sessions, etc, showing the flag and all. While the elected officials stay at home and work on stuff. Well, at least theoritically.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

Maybe she had a lot of BP stock.