Cam, can you see the sense in paying obsene amounts of money to footballers, basketball players, rock stars, investment bankers etc etc?
It is said the the monarch is chosen by God and the history of accession is not only ancient, but incredibly convoluted and really too complex to go into here, (lots of blood and gore, a civil war, several claimants etc etc, all the usual stuff really). However, amongst other things the monarch is also the head of the Church of England, (Defender of the Faith), and Head of the Commonwealth. The money that the Royals bring into the British economy as a result of tourism alone more than justifies the expense a fact that thankfully the majority of those fortunate enough to be born British, and therefore in a position to voice an opinion, recognise. In terms of attracting foreign investment their value is incalculable, Prince Andrew for example is a great ambassador for British business, it's a shame the same can't be said for Prince Philip who has an incredible history of committing faux pas but then he is Greek. Ok Edward is a bit of a waste of space but every family's got one and Princess Anne has more balls than all the boys put together, (not to mention an Olympic medal).
As for being broke, as an earlier poster has already said, if the Queen's broke I'll take some of that please!
The problem with giving the Government responsibility for the upkeep of some of the greatest buildings in Britain, (in fact for pretty much anything these days), would be that they would undoubtedly become run down and would eventually fall into complete disrepair as costs were slashed and slashed again to pay for more homes for the terminally afraid of work, more investment in the H and S executive and more money poured into the corrupt and seemingly wholly unaccountable banking system, not to mention of course our equally corrupt and unaccountable politicians.
As an Englishman and a Royalist to me the Queen is untouchable, like Winston Churchill, the 1966 football World Cup Winners, the 2003 rugby World Cup winners, real ale, the Spitfire, the Few, custard, roast beef and yorkshire pudding and the great British fry up.
Jerry
Live the life you love, love the life you live