A Royal Problem

I'm an accountant, and accountants don't like change. I'm also a recovering anglophile - someone obsessed with England. My obsession was strong in my high school years when I could often be found reading books set in England, such as Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, and Jane Austen novels. I even did an independent study on the history of England and spent Sunday mornings teaching my mom and sister (the total population of our Sunday school class) what I had learned. It was this memory, as well as the fading memory of a dream about George II - IV, that had me thinking about the Royal Family this morning.

I read an article recently about protesters who want to end the English monarchy. I don't know that, as an American, I can technically weigh in on the argument, but the idea just makes me think a lot. England DOES spend a lot of money to upkeep the monarchy, especially considering that the Queen has very little real power - if any. On the other hand, the monarchy is a symbol of England, and perhaps the money spent on the family could be equated with money we spend to upkeep national monuments like the Lincoln Memorial.

We have moved long past the days of the French and Russian revolutions, where dispensing with a monarch meant dispensing with his head. So I imagine if England quit the monarchy, they would simply say, "Ok, go about your business, but we are not going to pay you a salary anymore." No more bodyguards. No more palaces. (Or would they give them a palace or two to keep - would it be upkept by the state as a historical place - what assets are actually Elizabeth's vs. England's?)

How odd would that be - to wander around knowing you were a direct descendant of a royal line, perhaps the most well-known and powerful royal line in recent Western civilization, but not actually BE a prince? How strange would it be for Prince William to just become William and say, "I could have been king."