Republican campaigns rely on misinformation and half-truths to advance their cause. The British Royalist Society examines the most common myths and sets the record straight. Click any card to reveal the truth.
This claim is bogus. Brand Finance found that the monarchy generates recurring benefits of £8.50 per person annually against costs of just £5.50, a net benefit to every person in the country.
The monarchy's estimated annual contribution to the UK economy is £1.7 billion, accounting for the Crown Estate surplus and indirect benefits to tourism, trade, media and the arts.
For comparison: the Sovereign Grant costs £1.29 per head, against Parliament at £7.33, the BBC at £57, and the NHS at £4,300.
The Crown Estate is owned by The King in right of the Crown, dating to the Norman Conquest. In 1760, George III surrendered its revenues to Parliament in exchange for a fixed annuity, an arrangement continued voluntarily by every monarch since.
The Sovereign Grant Act 2012 consolidated this into a single grant of 15–25% of the Estate's annual profits. The Estate remains the hereditary property of the Crown, not the Nation.
Constitutional monarchies are among the most democratic and socially mobile states in the world. Ten of the top twenty countries in the Democracy Index are constitutional monarchies, despite monarchies accounting for only 30 of 195 countries.
Constitutional monarchies also occupy nine of the top twenty places in the Global Social Mobility Index. The United Kingdom consistently scores within the top twenty of both. Concerns about these matters rest with Number 10, not Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Household is not a public authority and its exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act are held on that basis, the same basis that applies to many private and charitable organisations. The exemption reflects the constitutional status of the Crown rather than any desire for secrecy.
The pomp and pageantry of monarchy draws millions from around the world, an allure republics cannot replicate. The royal boost to international tourism is worth £64 million annually, with an additional £20 million from the Coronation in 2023.
Windsor Great Park was the most visited British attraction two years running. Research by VisitBritain finds 60% of tourists are likely to visit places associated with the Royal Family.
The King is not required to pay taxation but does so voluntarily on all private income. Were the Sovereign subject to inheritance tax, assets held in trust by the Crown including Sandringham, Balmoral, works of art, and the royal archives could be affected, with no clear line between private and public.
His Majesty does pay inheritance tax on gifts and bequests to anyone else.
Rex non potest peccare. The Crown is inviolable. Proceedings against the Sovereign, who personifies the Nation, could be used to interfere in the execution of their duties. The same principle underlies presidential immunities in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, and Finland.
Members of the Royal Family enjoy no such protection. The Princess Royal was prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act in 2002, pleaded guilty, and was fined.
The House of Lords serves as an essential counterweight to the Commons, whose members are subject to party whips and outside pressures. As an apolitical chamber it can focus on the substance of legislation without political constraint.
The Lords retain the capacity to slow rash legislation, identify its weaknesses, and return it to the Commons for further scrutiny, halting measures of a radical nature until the mind of the Nation has been made up.
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