[opportune]

That person may be from a culture with no monarchy. As an American I find the whole process and institution disgusting (yes, before you type out a clever reply, I know we have our own problems and I also probably find those disgusting). So many resources dedicated to one family with no real functional role and not even a veneer of merit…

I think part of it is that culturally the British monarchy is the most relevant in the English speaking world, so it’s just considered a bigger deal than if the Swedish monarch died. It gets TV time even in other countries. But yes, it does also expose a huge amount of excess and brings to light a lot of lesser known aspects of the monarchy.

[jdkee]

The constant drumbeat in the news media of the royal family's dedication to "service". How is gorging on the public's teat while maintaining a $25 billion family "business" that is exempt from UK inheritance taxes in any way, shape or form consistent with liberal democracy?

[opportune]

Same tactic as the robber barons both new and old. Steal so much that giving away a fraction of it makes you seem like a saint. At least industrialists and (most) tech billionaires contributed something. A hereditary, neutered monarchy doesn’t contribute much at all beyond gossip and spectacle

[fennecfoxy]

Sovereign grant isn't "gorging on the public's teat" https://www.royal.uk/royal-finances-0 it's pretty much plain inheritance. In fact even more restricted because much of the royal family holdings cannot be sold and must be passed down.

Sure, it's a bloody violent history of kings and empires that got them there but the same could be said for much of the modern world. Is America going to hand back ALL land to Native Americans? Will individual tribes hand land back over to the tribes to originally inherited it before historical conquests? Etc. It's a more complex issue than first appears with history so long that it's almost impossible to track who is owed what.

[austinjp]

> Sovereign grant isn't "gorging on the public's teat"

Hmm. Charles will be paying zero inheritance tax on his multi-million inheritance.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/king-charles...

[fennecfoxy]

Oh yeah for sure. They don't _have_ to pay taxes, that's codified legally. QEII paid income and other taxes by personal choice, but they're not bound to.

Whether that's fair or not/applicable in the modern world is totally a discussion to be had by the public. Though perhaps the monarchy being so up-front and visible contributes to this.

Meanwhile companies sit in Ireland/Malta/Switzerland/etc and go on tax dodge binges and the public don't bat an eye. People seem to have a very short memory/modern world is so complicated we have to resort to apathy to handle it; remember the Panama papers? Was anything _really_ done about those?