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Buckingham Palace to undergo 'essential' £370m refurbishment

PoS

PoS

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/buckingham-palace-to-undergo-370m-refurbishment

The Queen has been awarded a 66% pay rise to fund a £369m 10-year refit of Buckingham Palace designed to future-proof the ageing building, it has been announced.

Theresa May, Philip Hammond and the Queen’s keeper of the privy purse, Sir Alan Reid, who are the royal trustees, agreed that the temporary pay increase was the best way to pay for urgent repairs.

The major refit, which has been described as essential, will see miles of ageing cables, lead pipes, electrical wiring and boilers replaced, some for the first time in 60 years. Officials said an independent, specialist report had concluded that without urgent work “there is a risk of serious damage to the palace and the precious royal collection items it houses from, amongst other scenarios, fire and water damage”.

The money will come from a 66% increase in the sovereign grant – the funding formula under which the Queen normally receives 15% of the annual profit from the crown estate. She will now receive 25% for the 10 years the work is taking place. When it is finished in 2027, the grant should be returned to 15%, the royal trustees said.
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I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
 
:popcorn2: (These tend to become popcorn in hand ready conversations... just saying.)
 
PoS said:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/buckingham-palace-to-undergo-370m-refurbishment



I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
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We met a number of UK folks in our travels in Europe. And I asked, probably all of them, how they felt about sustaining the monarchy. Nobody replied with any negative comments or expressed any wishes for the monarchy to go away. It's seen as a national treasure. I guess the upkeep doesn't matter. :shrug:
 
PoS said:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/buckingham-palace-to-undergo-370m-refurbishment



I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
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The debate surrounding the Monarchy will never cease. Buckingham Palace is in dire need of a refurbishment, and as a national asset should be preserved. The Monarchy on the whole are a net gain, but it's more than pure economics.
 
PoS said:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/buckingham-palace-to-undergo-370m-refurbishment



I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
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I suspect there are dissenting voices. But on average I always had the feeling that the British liked the Throne, even when the complain. And that is well invested money, so why should they rebel?
 
Well...I'm sure they could profit from the tours there alone.


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Wait til they finally decide to pay for maintenance on Westminster (where Parliament is)... the estimate there is already past the billion pounds.
 
PeteEU said:
Wait til they finally decide to pay for maintenance on Westminster (where Parliament is)... the estimate there is already past the billion pounds.
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Well, it is a very elegant building.
 
PoS said:
I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
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In regards to expenses, there was a series of reforms in the late 1970s in which state property vs private property of the royal family were clearly separated. I don't know what side of the divide Buckingham Palace falls on. It might be state property. The royal family (billionaires) was then required to pay a larger share of the upkeep expenses. The Royal Navy also discontinued the over the top royal yacht (the size of the ship and the size of the crew was a large as a frigate).
 
PeteEU said:
Which still has Victoria plumbing... and roof, and heating..
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That is real tradition! We had Victorian plumbing in the rooms at the RAC till the revamp. It was quite different.
 
PoS said:
~ what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
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Value of the Royal Family report worked out a bonus of around £44 billion to the UK economy.

The alternatives are a Presidency system that could give us a Donald Trump / Francois Mitterrand / Joachim Gauck (who?) / Heinz Fischer / Putin so I'm pretty happy with a Queen.
 
In the palace of Versailles the plumbers have to use the same techniques and materials that were used at this time.

There is a reason though: the palace and its many fountains, channels and ambitious water systems have often been the first of their kind, with many new techniques invented here, and achievements previously thought impossible. I imagine that the place is significant for the history of engineering. I hope no one cares about historical plumbing in other circumstances.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Value of the Royal Family report worked out a bonus of around £44 billion to the UK economy.

The alternatives are a Presidency system that could give us a Donald Trump / Francois Mitterrand / Joachim Gauck (who?) / Heinz Fischer / Putin so I'm pretty happy with a Queen.
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I don't get this "we could have *insert name of bad President*" as an argument.

Plenty of good Presidents and bad Monarchs with which to make the opposite argument. At least you can get rid of a bad President.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Name any?



The last 3 we have or had were pretty good.
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Lincoln, Mandela, Ghandi, Roosevelt of the top of my head. Plenty more.

Err... Edward VIII had to abdicate and was a Nazi sympathiser. And don't get me started on the Saudi royal family.
 
Aristaeus said:
I don't get this "we could have *insert name of bad President*" as an argument.

Plenty of good Presidents and bad Monarchs with which to make the opposite argument. At least you can get rid of a bad President.
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Ever hear of a guy called Oliver Cromwell ?
 
Strictly speaking the Palace belongs to the Crown estates on behalf of the nation, and not the Queen herself. It's an unhappy coincidence to put it mildly, that the repair estimate (some of the electrical wiring is over 60 years old) is similar to the lying brexiteer promises regarding properly funding the NHS. Ten years of imposed austerity have done little to deny the conclusion by many that it's being done at the expense of the poorest in society.
 
Aristaeus said:
Lincoln, Mandela, Ghandi, Roosevelt of the top of my head.
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Ghandi never became President but I was focusing on American Presidents rather than any other nationality, simply because I don't expect many Americans to consider any other leaders or peoples as equal or worthy. I've just been reading another DP thread trying to convince me that non whites are subhuman but anyhow, 90% of Americans will still view Mandela as a terrorist, less so with Ghandi but as I say, he was never President.

Aristaeus said:
Plenty more.
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American ones please. Lincoln - what made him great is disputed. His reasons for what he did were and are disputed and even then, despite Lincoln, it took until the 1960's for a President for all Americans, not just the white ones.

Aristaeus said:
Edward VIII had to abdicate and was a Nazi sympathiser.
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He didn't abdicate from his own wishes, it also goes to show that bad royalty can be forced out.

Aristaeus said:
~ And don't get me started on the Saudi royal family.
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Not really bothered about Presidents and Royalty from outside the remit of the US and UK.
 
joG said:
I suspect there are dissenting voices. But on average I always had the feeling that the British liked the Throne, even when the complain. And that is well invested money, so why should they rebel?
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The monarchy is valuable in a way that's hard to quantify.
I'm a Canadian liberal but also an unapologetic monarchist. It's almost a matter of having deep roots opposed to appearing out of nowhere.
 
PoS said:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/buckingham-palace-to-undergo-370m-refurbishment



I dont really have a bone to pick with this but I am curious as to what the locals think. How popular is the monarchy in the UK? Are they a cash drain or does the income they generate for the country more than make up for their expenses?
Click to expand...

The attached figures are 6 years old, but according to the report, the UK does pretty good business off the backs of the royals:

Monarchy attracts £500 million a year from overseas tourists - Telegraph
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Ghandi never became President but I was focusing on American Presidents rather than any other nationality, simply because I don't expect many Americans to consider any other leaders or peoples as equal or worthy. I've just been reading another DP thread trying to convince me that non whites are subhuman but anyhow, 90% of Americans will still view Mandela as a terrorist, less so with Ghandi but as I say, he was never President.



American ones please. Lincoln - what made him great is disputed. His reasons for what he did were and are disputed and even then, despite Lincoln, it took until the 1960's for a President for all Americans, not just the white ones.



He didn't abdicate from his own wishes, it also goes to show that bad royalty can be forced out.



Not really bothered about Presidents and Royalty from outside the remit of the US and UK.
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If the UK became a republic it would almost certainly not adopt the US model of Presidency, so I will name good non-US Presidents if I want.
 
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I agree with many of my esteemed colleagues, anyone who knows anything about the monarchy knows Buckingham palace is in a state, and has been for some time actually, with that estimate and the size of the building, it means they're actually low balling it and they're not touching on everything.

As far as love for the monarchy itself, that's always been down to the monarch themselves, Elizabeth II and her Father are seen as stalwart public servants and Elizabeth despite having had some low moments, is not likely to ever have another.

What happens after is key though, people really, really don't like Charles and I think we'll see republicans gaining some traction during his reign, but not enough to bring the house down.
 
Aristaeus said:
If the UK became a republic it would almost certainly not adopt the US model of Presidency, so I will name good non-US Presidents if I want.
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Nice reply, did you ever play rugby or grid iron? You could do well with dodges like that.
 
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