The Royal Leeches

One of my favourite gripes as many well know are the Royal families. I do not mean just the British Royal family, but pretty much all of them. And sadly there are many.

Here we have a family that does very little, yet gets paid millions annually. It is estimated that the British Royal family costs around 118 000- 180 000 pounds per year to maintain. This includes travel, accommodation, security etc. The Spanish Royalty costs the country some 9 million Euros, the Dutch Royals cost around 40 million Euros. I am not going to list all the royal families because I am sure we get the drift of my conversation. In South Africa we have Royal families as well as tribe leaders who get paid from tax money.

For this fee, the Royals are expected to attend a few public functions, do some charity work, show face at some gala events and so on. Not much payback for the multi- million investment they are.
Once they used to serve a purpose- they ruled the country and as such were like governments. it was up to them to make the difficult decisions.
 However, gone are the days when they are needed in the day to day running of a country, gone are the days that they have to make any country changing decisions. The ruling monarch is only included in government matters out of tradition and not because they need him/ her to do anything.
What we often see is their inherited ability to have wonderful holidays all over the world at the expense of the tax payer, a tax payer who actually works for the taxes he or she pays to the government who in turn pays the Royals their hefty portion. A tax payer who will not see any of the wonderful places these crown wearing leeches go to. (Unless it is those smiling photos in magazines and newspapers)

Traditionalists support the retaining the royals for what ever reason and many people from non royal nations see it as this wonderful fairy-tale. The royal wedding and coronations are massive events, watched by millions world-wide. Who knows why?

But in my non royal supporting view, all they really are are rich leeches who were lucky enough to be born into privilege. Pure and simple. They have not earned any of the wealth and respect they have.
Do they work hard enough for their millions-no way. Do they love the limelight- without a doubt. They love the lavish lifestyles and the constant attention. Would there be a massive hole should they be wiped off the planet- maybe for a while. But it would soon close and life would simply go on.

The truth is, as fun as it may be to have these real life Queens, Kings, Princes and Princesses, they do not really serve much function and are in effect, a bad investment. Due to their wealth, they have the chance to study (unlike millions of their subjects) and should not find it difficult securing a job where they will have to actually work for their money. The whole idea about monarchy is old fashioned and I do not see it having any serious place in the world today. With their already gained wealth, they could buy companies or invest the money so it generates income for them. Then, the money the State wastes on them could be better used to help the needy and improve infrastructure.

In short- dissolve the royals and let them live as normal people.