I think you would acknowledge that there is a slight different between inheriting a parents house and inheriting an entire country.

The differences between democracies and Constitution dictatorships are really just who gets to decide what the law is and how easy it is to change the law. In a democracy, people can still be extremely stupid, falling for cheap appeals to emotion by retarded politicians and voting themselves into oppression. See: USA.

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Little known fact #46: Every definition of a given word in a dictionary is used equally as often.

Little known fact #53: Your testicles serve only one purpose: to reproduce. Every other function is a complete accident.

Little known fact #65: Because the human body does not prepare for death, humans never die.

Yes, inheriting a country is more equal to inheriting a large corporation, and it is not unusual that large corporations are family owned. Many such corporations have more employees and a higher turn-around than many countries have inhabitants and GNP.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

I am sure they are, in a country like Austria who a lot of people come to visit to see what is left from its great imperial history. Many of the Swedish royal castles are open for visitors in the same way, but still costs money. I suspect the situation would be more like the Swedish than the Austrian in most countries.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Hm, Sweden has some imperial history as well. If the monarchic treassures would be at display in the castles and palaces they for sure are a tourist magnet.

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When the Nazis came for the communists I remained silent, I was no communist.
When the Nazis came for the Unionists I remained silent, I was no Unionist.
When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I remained silent, I was no Social Democrat.
When the Nazis came for the Jews I remained silent, I was no Jew.
When the Nazis came for me, there was no one left who could protest.

They are, and tourists go there to see them. There are, however, not enough visitors to pay for the upkeep of the castles.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Bullshit. Do know anything of history?

I would like to see some proof of this assertion - especially as the heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom talks to plants (have you seen his wife}?


Having said that, in my opinion, monarchy - any and all monarchies - are corrupt anachronisms. they may be useful for attracting tourists but they are totally irrelevant to the present day.

Well, than make it like us, expell the royal house, confiscate the lands and forrests and let the state earn what the family earned before

Of course to justify that step you would have to bring the family not to step down voluntarely. If they would agree to abstain from the claim to rule voluntarely that would ruin the whole plan.

__________________
When the Nazis came for the communists I remained silent, I was no communist.
When the Nazis came for the Unionists I remained silent, I was no Unionist.
When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I remained silent, I was no Social Democrat.
When the Nazis came for the Jews I remained silent, I was no Jew.
When the Nazis came for me, there was no one left who could protest.

It cannot be done in Sweden. You see, the King gets a tiny part of the State budget, but despite this and the proceeds from the royal castles, the Royal Court is generally short of money. The King takes some money as a personal salary, of course, but not much. Then the King has a personal fortune and owns land and buildings personally. For example, the summer residence Solliden on the Baltic Sea island Öland is owned by the King personally, it is not a royal castle that he has the right to use just because he is King.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

How would you describe the history of the current UK crown?

Ever heard of Joanna "the Mad", queen of Castille? She was married to Philip of Habsburg, their decendants became the Spanish line of the House of Habsburg. They often married their cousins and Joanna's mental disorder was inherited by some of them.

A lot of people talk to plants. As long as they are able to carry on their work and other public duties, why bother?

It would be nice if you would explain why you think so.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Keeping the court, as per royal salaries, is but a drop in the ocean. Maintaining the properties, however, is expensive. Making it attractive to tourism helps but isn't gonna cut it. Currently, in Denmark, there's a ratio of 1:5 between income and expenditure on estate with cultural functions (including the property that houses the crown jewels display, of course) while there's a 1:1 on other state-owned estate with commercial functions only (mostly offices). So, the solution seems to be to make the property commercially interesting rather than merely culturally, i.e. move the royal family to cheap flats and let cooperations in on leasing every square inch of the royal estate. Somehow I doubt, though, that Danish taxpayers won't cover the 4/5ths of the costs of preserving the national heritage that the estates are.

First of all I would doubt that you can adopt a palace so easily for office purposes. Second, I would consider that a crime on ones own culture. To sell out national jewels like this.

You overlook the indirect benefits. Its not just that the building itself costs and earns, the whole tourism industry has to rely on highlights, even if those highlights done pay of alone.

The summer and the winter imperial residences in Vienna are nowadays the top sights. Loosing them would simply be a total disaster.

__________________
When the Nazis came for the communists I remained silent, I was no communist.
When the Nazis came for the Unionists I remained silent, I was no Unionist.
When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I remained silent, I was no Social Democrat.
When the Nazis came for the Jews I remained silent, I was no Jew.
When the Nazis came for me, there was no one left who could protest.

No one doubts that. But to call the entire house of Habsburg smearnames of all kind due to those cases is far from being objective, is it?
Vienna hardly could have become the mecca of music and a leading metropolis of the beginning 20th century if the empire would have been destroyed for the last 600 years by insanes.

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When the Nazis came for the communists I remained silent, I was no communist.
When the Nazis came for the Unionists I remained silent, I was no Unionist.
When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I remained silent, I was no Social Democrat.
When the Nazis came for the Jews I remained silent, I was no Jew.
When the Nazis came for me, there was no one left who could protest.

Yes, of course. I replied with post #45 still in memory, where you made it sound as if royal, or once royal, residencies and palaces became a license to print money if only tourists were let in. While some are doing better than others, tourism can't balance the cost of maintenance. You're right that this is without counting indirect cash flow but every dime is still due to the taxpayer, no matter where the taxpayer got it from.

Well I lack the numbers for discussing this in detail. But I never heard until this very day anyone here in Austria who would have criticized ever that the royal heir costs so much.

And as far as it goes for example for Schloss Schönbrunn. Its the most visited place in Vienna, and Vienna in general is not any short of visitors. And the entrance fee to the Schloss is not really cheap with 12€

__________________
When the Nazis came for the communists I remained silent, I was no communist.
When the Nazis came for the Unionists I remained silent, I was no Unionist.
When the Nazis came for the Social Democrats I remained silent, I was no Social Democrat.
When the Nazis came for the Jews I remained silent, I was no Jew.
When the Nazis came for me, there was no one left who could protest.