I cannot understand how Americans can get excited over a bunch of welfare clients. The poor British public is supporting three, going on four, generations of elite on the public dole. Most of the time they don’t even have jobs but go around the world begging for money for their personal hobby causes but not laying out a nickel of their own.
“’Cos tourists are money.”
No, they're not actually. Under agreements going back to George III, the revenues from the Crown Estate (the Royal Family's properties) got to the British treasury to be used as the government sees fit, while in exchange, the expenses of maintaining the Royal Palaces, etc, and an allowance to the Queen and Prince Phillip are covered. Altogether in a typical year, the British taxpayers get around £200 million from the Royal Family, and give back around £30 million (it's actually fixed at 15% of Crown Revenues). No other members of the Royal Family receive any other money from the government except as things like their salaries for military service - the same as anybody else serving. The Queen and the Prince of Wales do receive incomes from properties owned by the Duchy of Lancaster (the Queen is Duke of Lancaster) and the Duchy of Cornwall (the Prince is Duke of Cornwall) but again, this is their property, much the same as any other family might have inherited property (the Royal Family is rich by any standard - but far from the richest of old British families).
People just seem to assume it's all taxpayer funded. It isn't. It's a family that's had hundreds of years to build up its wealth - and gives most of that wealth to the state. Functionally they are paying an 85% tax rate on their main income.