Columnist Victoria Coren Mitchell in The Observer, March 3
The average taxpayer shells out about 40p a year for the royal family, I think, which makes them an excellent deal on entertainment – better value even than the BBC licence fee. But there must be entertainment. We must have tureens and castles. And nannies….
The only way to give royal status meaning is to live an extraordinary life. It can’t be jeans and burgers and granny doing the babysitting. Nobody wants a commemorative teacup of Kate on a stepladder doing the bathroom. Actually that’s not true. It would be an amazing teacup. But you get the point.
Royalty originally was the link connecting the divine and mortals. We continue to crave that sense of mystery and power. John Fraser addresses this well for Canadians in his book, “The Secret Of The Crown: Canada’s Affair With Royalty”. The link to review is below.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-secret-of-the-crown-by-john-fraser/article4170242/
Anyone who watches CBC-TV knows the Royal Family is good for ratings.
Given that, the CBC should establish an alternative Crown Corporation to produce and distribute (nationally and internationally) a daily reality show featuring the entire Windsor gang. We then would be privy to everything they’re up to. The Privy Council could decide if airing certain revealing or indecorous scenes would be appropriate or not. The whole project would be so lucrative, it’d make up the shortfall created by the loss of the NHL to Rogers. That would not only pay for royalties to the royals for repeatedly exposing themselves, but also would cover the increase in Peter Mansbridge’s and Rex Murphy’s contracts so that they wouldn’t have to charge for speaking engagements in Calgary any more.
“royalties to the royals” — I love it!