A question or two, that is often thought, probably by many people:

Is the Royal Family worth keeping?

Are they worth the financial expense?

A report in 2008 showed that the cost of the Monarchy to the tax payer is about £40 million. £1.2 million of this was spent on catering and hospitality and £600,000 on housekeeping and furnishings.

Two questions that I saw:

• Is £40 million t0o high a price to cover official engagements, charity work and the tourist income that they generate?
• Is it time Britain did away with an hereditary monarchy altogether?

Time for some research, to find out how these payments began, after all, the Monarch originally gained its income direct from their own taxing system, and other dues.

In 1760, George III agreed to surrender all income from the Crown Estates, in return for a fixed annual payment from the Treasury, called the Civil List.

Should Britain change to a president or something similar?

Remember the figure above: £40 million for the British Monarchy.
In France, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, had a budget for the year of 110 million euros (£90 million), twice as much as the British Monarchy. So much for the French Peoples Revolution (1789–1799)…
In 2008 the British monarchy costs £1.33 to every taxpayer, for the entire year. That is the grand sum of 2.5 pence per week, per taxpayer.
In 2008 the Crown Estate passed over £226.5 million profit to the British Treasury. About £7.53 per British Taxpayer.
Going by those figures, the British monarchy is a good profit maker to the UK economy. But…
We also need to add the Tourism financial benefit.

What do people think about the value of the Monarchy?

A poll in the Guardian in 2009, had 69% saying that the Monarchy was a right royal rip-off.

How much does Britain get from the Monarchy and overseas tourism ?

The Tower of London had 2.38 million foreign visitors last year, at a price of between £8 and £19, depending on adult, child or group rates. So lets say $14 each = about £33 million. And that is just for the Tower of London.
It is estimated that in 2009 foreign tourists spent about £4.6 billion on the culture and heritage trail in Britain. That is £152.95 per taxpayer. About £22 of that goes direct to the treasury in GST.

I think that the British Monarchy is still performing very well for the country in a Financial way.

Reforms to the British Monarchy now being implemented include:

The FIRST child of a current Monarch will now become King or Queen, this marks the end of the male primogeniture rule.

Any heir to the throne who marries a Roman Catholics is now allowed to inherit the throne.

Prior to these changes, the male primogeniture rule meant that the first male child would inherit the throne even he had an older sister.

Also anyone who married a Roman Catholic was excluded from the line of succession.

Obviously any Monarch cannot convert to Catholicism themselves though. That would be like the Pope becoming a Protestant, as the Monarch is the head of the Church of England.

The official website of the British Monarchy: www.royal.gov.uk

While thinking about the relevance of the Monarchy today, I read this section from the Royal Website:

The Queen also has an essential role in providing a sense of stability and continuity in times of political and social change. The system of constitutional monarchy bridges the discontinuity of party politics.

While political parties change constantly, the Sovereign continues as Head of State, providing a stable framework within which a government can introduce wide-ranging reforms.

It made me think a bit deeper about things…

Since 1826, the Pulteney Distillery has crafted a Single Malt Scotch Whisky that is the very essence of it’s remarkable location, and in the Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2012 Awards, their Old Pulteney 21 Year Old, has beaten 1,200 others to win the top spot.

In the very far north of Scotland, by Wick’s historic harbour, the quietly maturing spirit lies in hand-selected oak casks, slowly capturing the unique character of this stunning landscape with it’s long seafaring history.

“Old Pulteney 21 Year Old” has been voted 2012 World Whisky of the Year by the prestigious “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible”, after testing 1,200 whiskies from around the world.

Scoring a record-equalling 97.5 points out of 100, it is only the third time that a single malt has ever won the prestigious award, and this is just the second Scottish distillery to do so.

I had to check on my Fathers favourite, “Glenfiddich” and found that in the 2011 awards the Glenfiddich 50 Years Old received 95 points.