My personal opinion on the queen is that "While I don't think any one family should get all the free crap they do they DO bring in ten times more in tourist money than it costs us to upkeep them so I'm all for them in a 'prize act in a circus' POV"

( keo COCKS COCKS COCKS, Sun 3 Jun 2012, 21:04, archived)

Is the cost of their upkeep any less than it would be to maintain all their estates via English Heritage
plus the cost of a Presidency and his palace, AND the cost of an election every four fucking years?

I doubt it.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Sun 3 Jun 2012, 21:20, archived)

Royal family annual cost: £40 million a year.
Total Cost of All White House Elements, for fiscal year 2008: $1,592,875,254
apparently
$200M a year just for Air Force One...

I don't think we need to worry too much about how much they cost us. It's like the cost of a first class stamp for everyone in the country.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sun 3 Jun 2012, 21:31, archived)

The Crown Estate pumps around £300 million a year to the Government.

( Mu Dinofiddler, Sun 3 Jun 2012, 21:44, archived)

It wouldn't much worry me if they didn't.
It costs about 2 billion a year just to run the Inland Revenue.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sun 3 Jun 2012, 21:56, archived)