I certainly respect our Queen, who is a decent enough old dear, but I couldn't care less about the other royals, who have too many dollars and not enough sense.  The money that it takes to keep the royals in caviar, Porsches, and Jaeger clothing would have been much better spent on the British people.

The best part about President and Mrs. Obama not being invited to the wedding is that they don't have to shell out for a gift.

Feb 24, 2011 -- 7:37PM, writingal1 wrote:

CL--having lived in England for a while I can say from observation that there is a segment of English society that is very interested in--and invested in--the doings of "the royals."

I don't want to sound classist--but it is not the educated middle class that evinces this high level of emotional investment....

I must concur from several years of having worked in large chain bookstores. Almost the only people I saw buying magazines and fan-type books on the royals were women, some of whom would chat up the booksellers about favorite soap operas as well when they could buttonhole any who couldn't muster up something compelling they had to do just then.

The notable exception was one man who bought several magazines of this sort. I recall remarking something like, "If you'll forgive my commenting upon your purchase, sir, I don't think I've ever before sold these magazines to a man."

His reply was along the lines of, "Believe me, you're not. I wouldn't touch the things. My wife insisted I pick up them up for her."

He looked pretty disgusted. I didn't bother asking if he wanted a bag or not; that he did was self-evident.

Feb 24, 2011 -- 9:53PM, solfeggio wrote:

The money that it takes to keep the royals in caviar, Porsches, and Jaeger clothing would have been much better spent on the British people.

Perhaps but the money it takes isn't actually coming out of our pockets. The current arrangment is that the Royal household receives X million a year from the Civil List but, for about twenty years now, they've just given it straight back (yes, we could just not bother paying it, this way was designed to get around the labyrinthe of Royal protocol; in the same way as the Queen is exempt from income tax but makes a voluntary contribution of the same amount). The family is extraordinarily wealthy because they own half the country (literally, the Royal household is official landowner of most of Wessex and much of Anglia). We pay for the upkeep of the palaces but, as national treasures, we'd be paying for them anyway. We also pay the expenses on any official engagement the Queen has as head of state.

Finally, it's been worked out many times that the Royal household costs us less than they bring in through tourist revenue.