Prince Andrew is an embarrassment but the Royal Family is still one of Britain’s greatest assets on the international stage, says James Price
This Christmas, many of us will be forced to fraternise with embarrassing uncles (not you, if you’re reading this, Uncle Mike!) – and the Royal Family is no exception.
As if his friendship with a convicted paedophile and mysterious sources of income weren’t enough to make you sweat (though not him, of course), Prince Andrew has also been revealed to be a close associate of an alleged Chinese spy. It has led some to question the value of the Royal Family more broadly.
I couldn’t disagree more. On a trip earlier this year to the heartlands of the United States, whenever people heard my accent, they would unfailingly ask me about the Royal Family. Everyone had an opinion they wanted my take on – whether it was Diana vs Camilla or, more often, Harry and Meghan vs the world.
Beyond it being subconscious proof that the perfidious colonials still regret rejecting the Crown, it was eye-opening just how much of a Royal flush the Royals provide us with as a nation. Especially compared to most other aspects of our sense of self-image abroad.
Even successful lawyers in places like Chicago had never heard of the phrase ‘the special relationship’. My future mother-in-law tried to comfort me, explaining “you gotta understand that we don’t spend that much time thinking about you over there in England”. But they all knew plenty about the Royals.
The Royal are bigger than Prince Andrew
It’s useful to bear in mind just how important the institution is to Britain. It has been much rejuvenated abroad by the Netflix show The Crown as well as the astonishing spectacles of the funeral of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.
Staying with their impact across the Pond; there is a genuinely moving video of Donald Trump on the campaign trail, with a book of pictures from the Royals. He shows the interviewer the images and is more gushing in his praise of this family he is about anyone else I’ve ever seen (himself excepted). There almost looks like a misty eye at one point.
And look at the reopening of Notre Dame; Trump praised the Prince of Wales for being handsome, said he is doing a great job and reminisced again about the late Queen.
This has a huge real-world impact. Britain really is much likelier to avoid painful tariffs that are headed towards the European Union from the Trump administration, partially because of his affection for the mother country and its Royal family. We are also in pole position to get a free trade deal with the US, with Royals no doubt set to play a major role in the diplomatic niceties.
Beyond the diplomatic benefits and trade negotiations, there are other economic effects that Britain enjoys. In fact, I often assume that the people running Republic, the anti-monarchy campaign, must be sleeper agents for the Court of St James. Their attempts to say that the Royals cost the taxpayer dear are so weak as to highlight just how good His Majesty and co are for the public purse.
The Crown Estate is such a phenomenally good company that it makes even me question the profit motive as the most powerful force on earth; the Estate to contribute net £1.1bn to the public purse in 2023/2024.
The King having a dubious brother is a price worth paying for the stability, economic benefits and extraordinary diplomatic reach our constitutional settlement provide
Not a bad deal for the taxpayer, given a tiny fraction of that is returned via the Sovereign Grant (£86.3m in the same period). In other words, the crown held onto less than eight per cent of what it made. I don’t see Monsieur Macron making such a contribution to all the expensive-looking parades France puts on every cinq minutes.
And that’s before you consider the contribution that the huge crowds of tourists that can be seen outside Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the rest make to UK GDP.
The King having a dubious brother is a price worth paying for the stability, economic benefits and extraordinary diplomatic reach our constitutional settlement provides. Indeed it is a feature, not a bug, of a state which has a family – with all the human fallibility that entails – as its physical embodiment.
And given that Prince Andrew is, as best, a gullible fool one does wonder what possible use he could have been to a foreign spy. Surely there are more concerning spheres Chinese influence than Pizza Express in Woking.
James Price is a former government adviser