this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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They do have a lot more soft power over the government than many give them credit for though, plus some (so far) unused actual power that they only don't use by tradition (which these days is more clearly a bad idea to rely on than ever). Plus all there's all that money that goes into the pageantry of it (royal weddings, etc).
I feel like it's be one thing to let them keep their royal titles, but they shouldn't be enmeshed with the state in any actual way imo.
I don't know how much power the British royalty actually have, but probably more than other royal families since the British monarch is also the head of the Anglican church. That not only has them enmeshed with the state, but also breaks church-state separation. 🤷
The pageantry, is what drives the souvenir market: for every birth, coming of age, marriage, coronation, random events, then death... and rinse and repeat, there is a ton of souvenirs getting sold, commemorative coins, random mementos, etc.
Like, right now, Sotheby's is auctioning... the set props from the series The Royals. Not even the actual things, just the props, and they start "cheap" at only 800-1000£ the cheapest. Sure they're supposed to donate any benefits to charity, but then the series itself was only so successful because of the pageantry.
Turns out the state collects taxes on all of that, so the money spent on monarchs, is more like an actor's salary. They also get other sources of income, like donations from businesses to act as international representatives, profits from the businesses they own themselves, or ~~bribes~~ presents from foreign representatives for their mediation in trade negotiations.
Pretty sure the British don't have a separation of chuch and state like the Americans do, especially since there is a new bill about that