look at that what a waste that Queen
living it off the government and her
castles with her corgis and gin just how
much does this cost to maintain 48
million pounds that's about 65 pens per
person per year of tax money going to
the royal family sure it's still 23
pence short of a complete shield but it
might be more than you want to pay after
all those are your coins why does the
Queen get to steal them well it's a
little complicated the story starts with
this guy King George the third most well
known as the monarch who lost the United
States for the Empire less well known
but far more interesting is he likely
suffered from a mental illness called
porphyria which has the unusual side
effect of transforming your poop from
its normal boring Brown into a
delightful shade of purple but I digress
back to the reason the Royals get tax
money King George was having trouble
paying his bills and he had racked up
debt while he did on huge tracts of land
the profit from their rental was too
small to cover his expenses he offered
Parliament a deal for the rest of his
life he would surrender the profits from
the rents on his land in exchange for
getting a fixed annual salary and having
his debts removed Parliament took him up
on the deal guessing that the profits
from the rent would pay off long term
just how well did Parliament do from
this back to the present day let's
compare the profits and losses by using
a tenner to represent 10 million pounds
the cost to maintain the royal family
today is 40 million pounds per year but
the revenue paid to the UK from the
Royal lands is 200 million pounds per
year 200 million in revenue subtract 40
million in salary costs equals a hundred
and sixty million pounds in profits
that's right
the United Kingdom earns 160 million
pounds in profit every year from the
royal family doing the math for an
individual 160 million pounds divided by
62 million people is about 2 pounds and
60 pence because of the royal family
your taxes are actually 2 pounds and 60
pence cheaper each year than they would
otherwise be but perhaps that's not
enough for you because you're a real
greedy geezer why not kick the Royals
out and keep 100% of the revenue because
it's still their land King George the
crazy wasn't crazy enough to give up
everything just the profits but it
wasn't only him every monarch since King
George the third has voluntarily turned
over the profits from their land to the
United Kingdom the government stopped
paying the royal families living in
state expenses the Royals would be
forced to take back the profits from
their land and your taxes dear monarchy
haters would go up
down plus 160 million is just the easily
measurable money the United Kingdom
makes from the royal family don't forget
their huge indirect Golden Goose
tourists annoying that they might be to
the locals by blocking the tube and
refusing to stand on the right they dump
buckets of money on the UK to see the
sights travel ludicrously short
distances by public transport and
generally act silly a long way from home
sure not everything they come to see is
royal but the most expensive stuff is
and who are the biggest fenders the
Yanks after they finished buying maple
syrup and cheap pharmaceuticals Tijuana
and professional services and illegal
pharmaceuticals where do they go next
the United Kingdom Americans fly across
an ocean to see a land filled with
castles that aren't plastic and why do
the Americans think Frances castles are
so boring and stinky and the UK's
castles are so awesome because real
monarchs still use them the Tower of
London is so stunning to visitors
because the Royal Crest on a yeoman
warders uniform is real is not a lame
historical reenactment or a modern
LARPing quest is the embodiment of the
living breathing queen everywhere you
look she sprinkled fairy dust on banal
objects to make them magically
attractive to tourists 12 million of
whom visit every year spending 7,000
million pounds which suddenly makes
those direct profits look like rather
small change but perhaps you don't care
that the monarchs are a perpetual
goldmine for the United Kingdom you're a
Republican and you just like the royal
family because of their political power
after all the government derives its
right to rule through the crown off the
people and yes I'll grant you that back
in the head choppy days of yore this was
a legitimate concern but the modern
Queen is in the dangerous political line
but a declawed kitten her powers are
limited to a Kabuki theater act of
approving what Parliament wants to do
anyway remove the royal family from
government and fundamentally nothing
would be different except now you
wouldn't live in a magical United
Kingdom but a rather dull United
Republic of England Scotland Wales and
Northern Ireland
aka or Aswini for short doesn't quite
have the same ring to it but maybe I'm
wrong
perhaps the Queen is a political ticking
time bomb just waiting for her chance to
declare random Wars and dissolve
Parliament for the lulz but until that
day comes god save the queen thank you
very much watching
[Music]