[Gunnair]

Vamp018 Vamp018:

THE THING WITH ME IS THAT I AM SMART AND I’M SMELF, I’M SELF SMARTED, BASICALLY, BY MYSELF, BASICALLY FROM NATURE AND SMOKING DRUGS AND DOING DIFFERENT THINGS I’VE SELF…LIKE SELF LEARNED MYSELF. AND THAT’S THE WHOLE DIFFERENCE I GUESS IS THAT I DON’T NEED THE BOOKS OR THE SCHOOLING TYPE THINGS. I JUST GET EVERYTHING ON MY OWN AND BECAUSE OF THAT I’M ALIVE RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE PEOPLE SAY BOOKS AND COLLEGE ARE FOR TO MAKE YOU SMARTER, BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE FOR TO MAKE YOU DEAD, WHICH IS WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME. MY BRAIN DOESN’T USE ENOUGH OXYGEN BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE THE WHOLE THING FILLED WITH DIFFERENT STUFF. AND IF IT WAS FULL, ITS ONLY PART FULL AND THAT’S WHY I’M ALIVE RIGHT NOW.”

Really, Vamp?

[Thanos]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Actual, unretouched photo! She wouldn't sit on it, though.

0:

Iron Queen.jpg

Windsor is coming.

[DrCaleb]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Everyone seems to have missed the point that he is expected to chauffeur the royals around to functions now. How much does it cost the British government to fund a helicopter and pilot now?

That would require reading the article. It's bad form; ruins the rant to do that first.

And you wouldn't have to run a security check on the pilot every month. Unless he's been to Vegas.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

NPR NPR:

The Royal Family paid its bills thanks mostly to a taxpayer-funded grant of 31 million pounds from the British government

Huh, it turns out that bitching is just as easy as fact checking. How 'bout that.

Regina Regina:

From what I've read in the past, the money given the Royals is for upkeep of their residences.

$1:

There are three sources of funding for The Queen, or officials of the Royal Household acting on Her Majesty’s behalf, in both a public and private capacity.

These are: the Sovereign Grant, the Privy Purse and The Queen’s personal wealth and income.

https://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHouseh ... rview.aspx

$1:

This is the amount of money provided by Government to the Royal Household in support of The Queen’s official duties, including the maintenance of the Occupied Royal Palaces: Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, Clarence House, Marlborough House Mews, the residential and office areas of Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and the buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor, and Hampton Court Mews and Paddocks.

The Sovereign Grant is provided by HM Treasury and consolidates the funding previously provided through the Civil List and the Property Services, Communications and Information and Royal Travel Grants-in-aid. HM Treasury is responsible for monitoring the application of the Sovereign Grant in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between HM Treasury and the Royal Household (“the Framework Agreement” PDF 156KB).

The first Annual Report covering the new arrangements under the Sovereign Grant will be for the year to 31 March 2013 and will be published in June 2013.

https://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHouseh ... Grant.aspx

$1:

The Queen’s personal income, derived from her personal investment portfolio and private estates, is used to meet her private expenses.

The Queen owns the Balmoral and Sandringham Estates, which were both inherited from her father.

Estimates of The Queen’s wealth often mistakenly include items which are held by her as Sovereign on behalf of the nation and are not her private property. These include the official Royal residences, the majority of art treasures from the Royal Collection and the Crown Jewels. The Queen cannot sell these – they must pass to her successor as Sovereign.

https://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHouseh ... ealth.aspx

Fact checking, by nature, is harder than just bitching about it.

Only if one isn't willing to let go of any bias they may have on a given subject.
And the simple fact is, last year the Royal family received 31 million pounds from the taxpayers to essentially pay some bills. That fact took all of 30 seconds to verify and it wasn't hard to do at all.

[DrCaleb]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

Only if one isn't willing to let go of any bias they may have on a given subject.
And the simple fact is, last year the Royal family received 31 million pounds from the taxpayers to essentially pay some bills. That fact took all of 30 seconds to verify and it wasn't hard to do at all.

I never claimed I have no bias, nor are you wrong. But that wasn't the point that you replied to. This was:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

The Queen only uses tax money on official events. The Royal Family has plenty of cash of their own that didn't originate from the taxpayer.

And the Queen does indeed have plenty of money to spend on non-State expenses like the running of her households and estates. And if she were to buy the future King a helicopter (for personal use), she could do so from her own funds, not government funds.

The bills that are paid using the 31 Million in Sovereign Grant (taxpayer funds) are predetermined by agreements that go back centuries, that those expenses are covered by the Government of Great Britain because they are for properties that are State owned, not owned by the Royal Family. The rest that aren't State related are paid from the Queens' own income.

Also something easily verified by a quick search.