As a former Dutchman, Republican and Libertarian, I think I can put all of this into a little bit of perspective.
First of all, the Dutch Royals have no true power. They are head of state, which in practice means, after the elections, the King appoints a person to negotiate a government coalition (the Netherlands easily has a dozen parties; there is hardly ever an absolute majority. In fact, I have never experienced this in my lifetime). The negotiator reports to the King and once agreement has been reached within the coalition, the King gives his stamp of approval and meets with all the new cabinet members for a photo op.
Only some of the palaces are actually the property of the royal family. They pay for most of the maintenance by themselves. They get paid an allowance. It is not that much. In fact, ex-US presidents get allowances of a similar magnitude. The main difference is that there are at most 2-3 former queens or kings.
Other than that the King holds a yearly speech on the second tuesday of september. It is more or less the equivalent of a State of the Union address, the content of which is dictated by the prime minister with some added sprinkles of personality by the King.
All in all the King is loved. He is a very down to earth type of guy. His nickname when he was a student is "King Wilhelm Beer", because he was always seen with a glass of beer in his hand.
Oh and burning down palaces would not do much. These people do not live in these palaces. They have two small ones that they actively live in some parts of the year, but the Princes and other people in the family just live in normal apartments and houses. These people drive their bicycles to work. Yes, most of them have jobs. Good jobs. But jobs nonetheless. The palaces are much like museums. You can visit them. You can visit the gardens. In fact I think visiting such a palace is easier than visiting the White House. And similar to the White House, the palaces are memorials to the long history of the Netherlands.
It's the same with the Sultan's palace in Istanbul. Mostly museum, or the Hofburg in Vienna or the Tuileries in Paris. Memorials to the history of the respective countries.
Oh and my main reason for being a Republican is not even the cost to the taxpayer, which is marginal, it is not even the little power these people have... These people are born into this function. A function they may not even want to perform. Some members of the Royals have explicitly left the Royal Family for this reason. I think no one should really be put into such a position. I am also against hereditary functions of power; even if the power is small. It just should not happen in a parliamentary democracy.
As a former Dutchman, Republican and Libertarian, I think I can put all of this into a little bit of perspective.
First of all, the Dutch Royals have no true power. They are head of state, which in practice means, after the elections, the King appoints a person to negotiate a government coalition (the Netherlands easily has a dozen parties; there is hardly ever an absolute majority. In fact, I have never experienced this in my lifetime). The negotiator reports to the King and once agreement has been reached within the coalition, the King gives his stamp of approval and meets with all the new cabinet members for a photo op.
Only some of the palaces are actually the property of the royal family. They pay for most of the maintenance by themselves. They get paid an allowance. It is not that much. In fact, ex-US presidents get allowances of a similar magnitude. The main difference is that there are at most 2-3 former queens or kings.
Other than that the King holds a yearly speech on the second tuesday of september. It is more or less the equivalent of a State of the Union address, the content of which is dictated by the prime minister with some added sprinkles of personality by the King.
All in all the King is loved. He is a very down to earth type of guy. His nickname when he was a student is "King Wilhelm Beer", because he was always seen with a glass of beer in his hand.
Oh and burning down palaces would not do much. These people do not live in these palaces. They have two small ones that they actively live in some parts of the year, but the Princes and other people in the family just live in normal apartments and houses. These people drive their bicycles to work. Yes, most of them have jobs. Good jobs. But jobs nonetheless. The palaces are much like museums. You can visit them. You can visit the gardens. In fact I think visiting such a palace is easier than visiting the White House. And similar to the White House, the palaces are memorials to the long history of the Netherlands.
It's the same with the Sultan's palace in Istanbul. Mostly museum, or the Hofburg in Vienna or the Tuileries in Paris. Memorials to the history of the respective countries.
Oh and my main reason for being a Republican is not even the cost to the taxpayer, which is marginal, it is not even the little power these people have... These people are born into this function. A function they may not even want to perform. Some members of the Royals have explicitly left the Royal Family for this reason. I think no one should really be put into such a position. I am also against hereditary functions of power; even if the power is small. It just should not happen in a parliamentary democracy.
Thank you for this. I think the hereditary bit is a vestigial issue, from the legacy of havin kings