Poll: Do you like the British Royal Family?

[Quaxar]

Nah, fucking leeches living off taxpayers. Can't believe the Brits are still putting up with them.

Yeah, how dare they generate four times their cost in land revenue for the UK (not even counting any tourism) and thus actually lowering the taxes for British citizens!

OT: I'm personally pretty indifferent but I like the idea of some sort of national mascot that's not a silly flag or fantastic creature.

 

[Tiger King]

Maybe there should be a 'neutral' option?
From what i can gather, the negative attitudes towards the royals are:
they dont contribute anything
they are subsidised by tax payers
they dont pay tax

another one is political stance but i dont wanna go into that.

from what i can find it seems the royal estates generates more than it spends for the treasury.
(stolen from wiki)
"In modern times, the profits surrendered from the Crown Estate have exceeded the Civil List and Grants-in-Aid.[2] For example, the Crown Estate produced £200 million for the Treasury in the financial year 2007?8, whereas reported parliamentary funding for the monarch was £40 million during the same period.[6]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_the_British_Royal_Family

there is stuff on there about tax etc too.

well anyway, in my opinion i'm not too fussed about them, they serve a 'traditional' function, making apperances etc with some charity work thrown in. I think they may get a lot of money but it's at the expense of privacy, i wouldnt want to be in their shoes...except maybe harrys because he is an apache pilot.

people should dislike the media more because they are the ones that ram them down our throats!

 

[Darks63]

Can't really say that I dislike them as much as i'm indifferent. What i do dislike is the people in my country who seem to worship them and need to know everything they do. These people seem to think that America is missing out not having a blue blooded nobility/aristocrats running around the country.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Well, I'm not British, but here in Belgium we have our own royal family and it just so happens we got a new king only a couple days ago. And ...

... I couldn't care less. Grass is still green, the sky is still blue. The only significant change is that the names on the biggest welfare checks in the country got shuffled around a little. Oh, and lots of politicians, experts and miscellaneous public figures acting like it's a turning point for the country. Other than that, business as usual.

As for the blue-bloods across the channel, they leave me indifferent. I know they exist and that's about as far as my interest goes.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I've heard they are a net boost for the economy, and they seem harmless politically, so mostly I don't give a fig.

However, does it really need to take up over 10 minutes of every news bulletin on every channel. Other shit is going on! Shit that actually means shit. Wow, a posh women had a baby. Whoop de fucking doo. Egypt is in the middle of a flipping coup!

 

[Abomination]

I think the term you're looking for is "from the UK" and not "British". Or do you mean Anglo-Saxon? Did you actually mean "British" as in someone from the British Isles which includes The Republic of Ireland?

Either way, I'm quite fond of the royals. I like how they don't have any real power but seem to keep tourism up and are essentially our only form of ceremonial culture we have left that hasn't been turned into a corporate wankfest. At the same time I'm an avid fan of European History and the actions of royalty have always had a defining impact in that.

They're harmless, so I have no reason to dislike them. I actually find them quite endearing.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

As a non-Brit, I could not care less about any royal family.

 

[Tiger King]

I think the term you're looking for is "from the UK" and not "British". Or do you mean Anglo-Saxon? Did you actually mean "British" as in someone from the British Isles which includes The Republic of Ireland?.

going off topic but I've read this bit a few times and I'm scratching my head a bit at what you are trying to say :S
Someone from the uk is British, right? unless you are a naturalised migrant or something but I guess that would still make you a British citizen.

 

[WoW Killer]

Yeah, how dare they generate fourty times their cost in land revenue for the UK (not even counting any tourism) and thus actually lowering the taxes for British citizens!

There aren't any rich people in the country (law abiding ones anyway) who don't technically lower the taxes of us commoners.

[small](they also lower our wages in real terms)[/small]

Edit:

going off topic but I've read this bit a few times and I'm scratching my head a bit at what you are trying to say :S
Someone from the uk is British, right? unless you are a naturalised migrant or something but I guess that would still make you a British citizen.

UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Edit2: Sorry that probably wasn't too clear. Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales. UK refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. British Isles refers to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland (The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The only term which is a bit ambiguous is "British", which sometimes does and sometimes doesn't include Northern Ireland. More often than not, the distinction has something to do with transubstantiation. But really, "British" is a nationality, which means it's not actually got anything to do with geography. You're British if and only if you call yourself British.

 

[Albino Boo]

Nah, fucking leeches living off taxpayers. Can't believe the Brits are still putting up with them.

EDIT: For the record I hate royalty in general. Did any of you guys catch the news about that idiot Spanish king shooting endangered wildlife in Africa while Spain goes through the worst economic crisis the country has ever suffered, with an unemployment rate of over 20%? Fucking pests, all of them.

Nope. Not British and have no idea what their deal is. Also apparently they get tax money. Why? Are they that vital to the country?

You are both incorrect they don't receive tax payers money. In the 1760's George III handed over the revenue from the crown estate in return for a yearly payment of money, however land was still owned by the monarch. These payments were know as the civil list. The 1st hundred years or so the payments to the civil list outweighed the revenue from the crown estate. SInce the 1860s the income from the land has been far more than the government paid out, in 2010 the profit from the crown estate was £210 million and the government paid out £79 million. Last year the system was changed to the government paying out 15% of the profit to Queen. That still leaves the taxpayers of the country ahead by having an effective tax rate of 85%, just under double the top rate of tax.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

As a matter of fact I do. I won't pretend that I don't get annoyed with how deliriously obsessive some of our citizens and our media get with them. I'm not much of a fan of pomp and ceremony. However, by and large they seem like a decent bunch of people.

And hey, despite how the republicans in this country like to intone that democracy is the one true path to making everything lovely forever, if you actually asked me who I trust with power and privilege more: The House of Windsor, who, aristocratic and, some would say, outmoded that they may be, do seem to have firm principles, and view their position with some goddamn responsibility; or the petty, corrupt, spineless, lying, mercenary, old-school-tie, waste-of-oxygen Yes Men that currently and persistently infest out Houses of Parliament like a bad case of political herpes; then I suddenly start to feel a lot less democratically minded, if truth be told.

 

[Abomination]

I think the term you're looking for is "from the UK" and not "British". Or do you mean Anglo-Saxon? Did you actually mean "British" as in someone from the British Isles which includes The Republic of Ireland?.

going off topic but I've read this bit a few times and I'm scratching my head a bit at what you are trying to say :S
Someone from the uk is British, right? unless you are a naturalised migrant or something but I guess that would still make you a British citizen.

UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Edit2: Sorry that probably wasn't too clear. Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales. UK refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. British Isles refers to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland (The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The only term which is a bit ambiguous is "British", which sometimes does and sometimes doesn't include Northern Ireland. More often than not, the distinction has something to do with transubstantiation. But really, "British" is a nationality, which means it's not actually got anything to do with geography. You're British if and only if you call yourself British.

He's pretty much on it.

Other reasons why using the term "British" to describe someone from the UK is problematic is because you'll hear such sayings as "I'm Scottish, not British!" or "I'm English, not British!" or "I'm Welsh, not British!" and an Irishman will call you an Imperial oppressor and kick you in the nadgers.

I identify myself as British as I have almost equal ancestry of all 4 kingdoms of the British Isles... but I live in New Zealand.

It does raise a question, what do you call someone from the UK when seeking to be inclusive of all 4 kingdoms while excluding the Republic of Ireland? The term "Brit" doesn't work because - like it or not - the Irish ARE British geographically.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Nah, fucking leeches living off taxpayers. Can't believe the Brits are still putting up with them.

EDIT: For the record I hate royalty in general. Did any of you guys catch the news about that idiot Spanish king shooting endangered wildlife in Africa while Spain goes through the worst economic crisis the country has ever suffered, with an unemployment rate of over 20%? Fucking pests, all of them.

The Royal Family still owns the land is pretty much the gist.

 

[Voulan]

I'm from New Zealand, and I do like them. I'm not a fan of Monarchy, but the actual people themselves seem very nice and giving. Besides, they've done nothing to me to hate them, that's far too extreme a reaction.

EDIT: If people are only hating them because of their consistent media coverage over the last while, that's the Media's fault, not theirs.

 

[The Funslinger]

Well, we're objectively better off with them, and people would see that if they were properly informed. So yes, I suppose I like them.

I think that baby and its newly made parents deserve some fucking peace, though.

 

[splayfoot1]

Poll certainly needs a neutral option, but for myself, I'm British and I am really quite fond of the monarchy.

From what I've seen, most of the hate comes from people with bad information.
The monarchy doesn't run the country, they aren't a drain on the tax payer, and while they do get a over bearing amount of publicity, a lot of the time it is because they are out and about doing charity/diplomatic work.

There is also a lot of talk about privileged rich kids going off the rails. compare Prince Harry to Justin Bieber, which would you rather have as a spokesman for your country?

 

[WoW Killer]

It does raise a question, what do you call someone from the UK when seeking to be inclusive of all 4 kingdoms while excluding the Republic of Ireland? The term "Brit" doesn't work because - like it or not - the Irish ARE British geographically.

The technical term (and this is the terminology you'll find on forms for passport applications or jobseekers allowance for instance) is "UK citizen", e.g. "Are you a UK citizen or have you been living in the UK for at least 13 months? Yes/No". But yeah, so far as I know there's no term that refers to the UK like "Scottish" refers to Scotland or "English" refers to England (now then, what's the technical word for that sort of word? Surely there's one).

 

[Broax]

I would like a "I'm british and don't really care about them in particular" or "I'm non-british and I dislike royalty in general" or "I'm non-british and I hate everything with a crown since I started watching GoT"... I just watched *THAT* episode so give me a break...

Anyway I voted 4th...

 

[Panorama]

Eh, there all right I guess.

I don't care about them much, but they bring in more money to the country than they take out, plus we get days off because of them, and a day off is always good.

Couldn't have put it any better myself. The net positive they bring into the country is ok by me, and them having children birthdays etc... gives us a day off here and there, i like that.

 

[Elvaril]

Not British, but over the past five years or so I have swung about from a staunch republican to being a staunch monarchist. So sick of all the political bullshit that comes with republicanism.