Royal family in the news... again

I twittered about this story today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/7614634

The story appeared in all the UK nationals... the Royal family taking our money again, and at a time when all people seem to talk about is the credit crunch, petrol prices and so on.

Now I am by no means a royalist and I do think they take the p**s sometimes (William flying the RAF's helicopters around the country irritated me to say the least)

My argument was that I'd like to see how much money the Windsors bring in through tourism each year. I'm saying, if the average American couple fly BA from New York to Heathrow and back we're talking £600 going to the UK aviation industry. Then taxis, hotels, theatre and so on. That's a lot of money!

Now I'm not for a second saying the Royal family are the only reason this couple would visit but the monarchy distinguish the UK from other nations. Ask a tourist what they think represents the UK and I'm sure the Royals will be in the top five and Buck Pal would certainly be in the top 3 landmarks.

Before you make any business decision, you need to weigh up pros and cons (in £ terms particularly) so, before we again stamp our feet and demand we stop paying for the Royal family, lets see the exact figure of how much money they bring in to the country.

Then we can decide if they're worth it.