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With regard to the British monarchy it is actually a very good deal for the British people. When the Monarch dies his/her estate passes to the next Monarch, but, the new monarch assigns the crown estate to the British government to be administered. The civil list is what pays the Royals for performing their duties. The civil list is funded by the earnings of the crown estate. The earnings of the crown estate are very much larger than the funds paid into the civil list and what is left over goes to the government to the general fund. The monarch also inherits the previous monarch's PERSONAL estate and has for some years now paid regular income tax on that as well. So, the Royal holdings are used by the government to defray the expenses of the monarchy, the residue (worth millions of Pounds Sterling) go to the people through the general fund, and the personal income tax on personal holdings goes to the government's inland revenue dept. just like anyone else. The tourist value of the Royals is worth quite a lot and they actually cost nothing and contribute millions to the public purse. The anti-monarchists like to gloss over this rather interesting point.
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