Letter from Bob Edwards in Harlow
As Marxists we’ve often argued that the expense of the monarchy is maintained by the capitalist class to provide a safety net. It was rolled out in Australia when the Royal Preroragive was used to kick out Gough Whitlam, the Labour Prime Minister. That was a precedent to test the public reaction.
So for the capitalist class it is handy to the keep the monarchy above criticism. There was a minor crisis over the death of Princess Diana (the “annus horribilis”), but a bigger crisis is brewing now over Andrew, and so he will have to be sacrificed to keep the royal image ‘wholesome’.
But I smell a conspiracy. Andrew could have been exposed years ago – remember the late Queen forked out £10mn to close down a legal action against him. But what concerns me now is the timing. Why now?
Occasionally snippets slip out on radio news or TV news, for instance that millions go into the royal treasury as the Sovereign Grant. The Crown estates are worth over £16bn and 15% of the proceeds from this – including payment for wind-turbines on the ‘royal’ sea-bed – go directly to the monarchy. In 2017 this was increased to 25% of the profits for ten years, to pay for repairs to Buckingham Palace.
No-one seems to mention the fact that the monarch (and his heir) have the right to go through parliamentary legislation – all behind closed doors, of course so the public are never told – to sift through (and possibly amend) any clauses that might affect them.
So reducing Andrew back to the ranks (as if) is just a smokescreen and a distraction from the role of the royals and their huge appetite for wealth. It is amazing how greed can be bred into the genes, along with a low IQ!
What huge landed estates are in the hands of the major and minor royals is all ultimately a product of wars and conflicts in the Middle Ages, land, titles and wealth plundered from one another and from ordinary people.
We’d be all far better off if this property and wealth belonged to the state, so it can be used to fund schools, hospitals and care homes. The royals can get jobs as tour guides around their former homes and estates.
[Feature picture and Andrew picture from Wikimedia Commons, here]
