Are the English royal family the greatest scam ever played?

I remember hearing that and then hearing that the french actually make more from their castles and chateausd than the UK do. And look at whet the french did to their royal family. :)

You don't need the actual royal, just the trappings.

Tell that to the hoteliers and businesses of London who have hundreds of thousands visiting there this week alone because of the Coronation.

Little Micky D the multi millionaire socialist leprechaun sponger just does not cut it when attracting the tourists, no Carrolls Irish Gifts shop has his ugly little picture on it.

I think the tourism point is a very dangerous one for a monarchst to make. Alton Towers makes money as a tourist attraction too. And when it stops making money it will be shut down and sold for scrap...

I see where you're coming from but I'd disagree. Alton Towers is one of many theme parks. There's only one Buckingham Palace, one Balmoral, one Sandringham, one Windsor, etc... That said, it's not like tourists pay to meet the royals. They pay to see the palaces which are unique and will be preserved for their historical and cultural significance.

The tourist revenue argument has never made sense to me. The Queen may have been a big part of the UK's global brand but right now, I'd say they want the royals less involved in that.

I don't know how they measure the royals as a tourist attraction. I remember hearing they survey tourists and potential tourists and ask what they look forward to seeing in the UK. Or what they know about the UK and what they would like to see of they travelled. So I'd say they're fairly speculative about the revenue they actually get from tourists coming to see the Royal estates.

But what happens when those foreigners stop saying they're looking forward to seeing the royals in such numbers? Do they still keep them as part of their structure of government because they're a tourist attraction?

Having a royal family as part of government as a tourist attraction is mad, in my opinion.

That's part of the problem but I remain confident that places like Windsor Palace would remain extremely popular without the Royals. It's like trying to assess the safety of cannabis when it's illegal and mixed with tobacco. Hard to say objectively but I think we can make solid estimates.

Well, their monarchy made... questionable decisions that lead to their obliteration.

That aside, I don't think much marketing is necessary for the UK. It's one of the most visited countries in the world.

I still think its a bit of a hoot how international the british royal family is/was ,

Especially when a lot of their conservative supporters wouldnt be the most pro-immigration ..

So the first king of englaland would probably be of northern netherlands stock .. Canute was a Dane , William was Norman , they stuck with frenchies for a bit - till the hundred years war when the same nobility declared themselves english .. bloody Mary was half spanish and married to the king of spain ..

James the first was Scottish

William of orange was was obviously Dutch ..

And they went Hanovarian after that ..

Before victoria , who was also very very German ...

Prince Philip was technically Greek royalty --but really german/british aristocracy

Just saying..

Based on a few outliers camped out in central London? Not a great basis for that assertion.

The monarchy is well over a thousand years old. People are going to resist toppling it for all sorts of reasons. This is more likely to be the basis of support for it than any religious fervour, particularly since the Queen died.