I never really been able to quite get my head around the point of the Royal family in a modern world.

They are a curious bunch. I heard the other day Harry and Meghan want to become financially independent. Then I heard that Harry had made £30 million from the public purse since taking up Royal duties. Imagine being in a world where you can go and seek independence with £30 million in your pocket?

What’s he going to do, work at McDonalds until the right job comes along?

These Royals seem to be given a lot of money for doing not much. It appears even more so when an individual who has worked for 45 years whilst paying tax and national insurance, can’t be afforded a decent state pension or healthcare.

Royal Wealth

I’m not really one of these republicans who think the royals should have their heads lopped off (well, I am a bit) but the wealth they gather seems to be utterly disproportionate in an era of austerity. It just doesn’t add up.

Take Prince Edward, for instance. He has a net worth of £45 million. For doing what? You always hear people ranting and raving about Premiership footballers earning £200k a week, yet if it is an insignificant member of the monarchy, it is just accepted.  

The money footballers earn is obscene of course, but at least it can be quantified by market forces. With the money coming into football clubs via TV deals and sponsorship, players are a key asset to keep the ball rolling (a great pun there eh?). £200k a week can be an absolute bargain if it results in trophies.

We can argue all day about what the Queen’s profit and loss balance sheet looks like, but Prince Edward and a sum of £45 million, just don’t add up. I forgot he even existed until I googled it. When I went to search ‘What’s Prince Edward worth’ the first thing that came up was, ‘What’s Prince Edward up to?’ Well, quite.

That said, I don’t know why I am picking on him? Prince Andrew is worth £240 million. What for? His services to convicted sex offenders perhaps. It’s all rather bizarre and I just can’t get my head around it; I have never been able to.

In a Bubble

In many ways it is not even the Royals fault. They don’t really know what currency is. They don’t have to look nervously at post-Christmas bank statements or worry if private savings will prop up their state pension. They don’t have to worry about being left on a trolley in an A&E corridor or whether the NHS will be privatised.

They are in a bubble, so they can’t have any concept of normality.

It’s the people who do have all these worries that confuse me. They are faced with daily stresses about money, health and the fear of being cold and lonely when they are old and struggling.

Yet, somehow, when a Royal gets married, they can find the money to get on a train and spend an afternoon at Buckingham Palace waving a plastic union jack flag. It’s entirely up to them of course, but I just can’t compute it. It’s 2020, yet, if you take away all the technology, Britain still behaves like it was 800 years ago. Serfdom is alive and kicking and that’s the way we like it.

If we are to keep the Royals, why can’t we just pay them a basic salary in line with a sitting MP and a profit related bonus? Like any business, all income can be set against costs and the rest can form a part of a bonus structure payable when the money has been paid to the public purse.

Surely that is sensible? But with the Royals when did being sensible ever come into it?