are they worth it?
Sep. 15th, 2004 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ramtopsfrom an article in the Times this morning, comes the news that Prince Charles thinks the army should guard the Royal Family.
the article goes on to mention some of the costs involved in protecting these people from ... whatever they're protected from. So, switching it to the Army would require *600-700 soldiers* - more than a battalion.
further figures:
to protecting the Queen at Balmoral this year - £1.2 million
to protecting Prince Harry for six weeks in Australia last year - £600k
The Home Office refuses to discuss the cost of policing the Royal Family but an authoritative figure is about £30 million a year, although that does not take into account the burden placed on police forces by royal visits.
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that's a lot of money - are they worth it?
the article goes on to mention some of the costs involved in protecting these people from ... whatever they're protected from. So, switching it to the Army would require *600-700 soldiers* - more than a battalion.
further figures:
to protecting the Queen at Balmoral this year - £1.2 million
to protecting Prince Harry for six weeks in Australia last year - £600k
The Home Office refuses to discuss the cost of policing the Royal Family but an authoritative figure is about £30 million a year, although that does not take into account the burden placed on police forces by royal visits.
----------
that's a lot of money - are they worth it?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 01:37 am (UTC)Going Republican would not abolish the position of Head of State. Choices:
(a) Active President, separate election. President Blair & Prime Minister Brown?
(b) PM=President. You want President Maggie?
(c) Inactive President. Why bother?
Whoever it is will still need protection.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 02:50 am (UTC)The one advantage of it being a hereditary monarchy, though, is that if the current monarch dies, the next one in line just becomes the new monarch, without any messing about. So we don't actually need to protect them at all: there's lots of them.
If they want to pay for protection for themselves, they should be free to do so, of course.