My take on the Monarchy.

I like to see myself as a liberal minded person but it seems people with similar views to me do not share my view on the Monarchy. Fair enough, it is a very archaic institution, as one facebook group describes, but whilst I am open to new things, I am not against a bit of tradition as long as it doesn't harm anybody. Yes I am aware that the monarchy was brutal to both its own people and other countries in the past, when they had power, but now, they do nothing. This is another argument people use against them, but consider the fact that they bring in a hell of a lot of tourism in this country.
Approximately £13 million of our taxes go into their pockets every year. Our taxes also go to funding museums, festivals and the BBC. All are things that we don't necessarily need, but they bring in a lot more than we give out. Getting rid of something just because we don't need it is not a good enough argument in my opinion. By that logic, we should give up most of our luxuries, the internet, music, holidays etc. But we don't, because although they put a dent in our wallets, they also make us happy. We don't necessarily need to spend so much time on our appearance, and it costs money to do so, but most of us (females in particular) like to do it anyway because it makes us attractive. That is how I see the Monarchy.
I do believe the Monarchy could do with reform. Their laws on Catholics, quite frankly, should never have been introduced in the first place, (but that's another story) but the queen herself has said the monarchy needs to bring their ideas up to date. She suggested that instead of public payments, they could have the £142 million a year in revenue generated by the Crown Estates which King George surrendered in 1760. The Royal Family also considered proposals to remove the monarch as temporal heads of the Church of England, and equal rights to women as heirs to the throne.
The Netherlands, Norway Sweden and Denmark, who are seen as some of the most progressive countries in Western Europe, all have a constitutional monarchy. When I think of these four nations, "backward" is not the first thing that comes to mind. So why should we be? The British Royal Family is, without a doubt, the most famous Monarchy in the world, and does more for us than most would have us to believe.