AYNTKA: The Royal Family

All You Need To Know About: The Royal Family.

With the introduction of Greek Democracy, Monarchy didn’t completely become obsolete. There are still 26 countries in the world which have kings and queens, out of this the most prominent is obviously the Royal Family of Britain. But let me not bore you with the numbers and get straight to the point. This article will not exactly tell you “All you need to know about” but it will be more of an “I bet you didn’t know this” article. So let’ go ahead with “Things that you probably didn’t know about The Royal Family”.

1. Richie-rich, but not as much as you think:

Let’s talk money first! Now you must have automatically assumed that “Royals can buy whatever they want and get whatever they want”, this is not entirely true. The estimated net worth of the royal family happens to be $500 Million (According to Forbes). Quite a disappointing figure for monarchs’ right? Well whatever that may be, they’re still filthy rich! The queen herself receives a yearly income of $13 million, and also the Buckingham palace costs a $5 bucking billion!

2. and Mrs Smarty pants:

According to BBC history, the queen’s father disliked the idea of school and her mother was of the opinion that “having fun is more important”. Despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth had an amazing aptitude alongside razor-sharp memory, she never got to complete her education. On the other hand, Prince Williams happens to be well educated, earning his degree back in 2005. A Scottish Master of Arts degree alongside an upper Second-class Geography honours. And not just him, but his wife, Kate Middleton, also appears to be a smart cookie, having studied Art History, she is the first Royal bride with a University level degree!  

3. The Four names rule:

Up until 1917, the Royal family had no surname. However, King George V decided that the family surname would be Windsor. Despite the fact that the actual surname of the Royal family is Mountbatten-Windsor, the Royals have a set of 3 or 4 names. Prince William’s official name is “William Arthur Phillip Louis” and Prince Harry’s name happens to be “Henry Charles Albert David”. This is one reason why the Royals don’t have an official surname, but they do take on a temporary surname for official purposes.

4. The no “Monopoly” rule:

                                                                  

This might sound like it’s something to do with Real-estate or business, but no, it’s something far smaller and more peculiar. Every member of the Royal family is prohibited from playing the real estate based board game, “Monopoly” for the reason that “the competition would get too vicious”. Having established this, they must be a far more peaceful family than the ones that actually play that game.

5. The powers that the Queen possesses:

In today’s world, nothing works without a government. However, the Queen of England has immense power that she can exercise and she is excused from a lot of things that the regular people would be heavily punished for. For starters, the queen is legally allowed to drive without a license. To add to this, thanks to the quirks of British law, she can travel anywhere without a passport, unlike the commoners who wait for hours in the passport renewal offices! These are just the lighter ones if we talk about it. The queen can display terrifying powers if she decides to flex the full might of her Queen status. To begin with, she can “declare war” without the consultation of the parliament. To add on to this, she has the license to kill (real-life James Bond) and will be subjected to no criminal charges. However, the Queen displays only a microscopic fraction of this power in actuality.

6. “London Bridge is down” code:

The firm (Royal family) has a different way of conveying the demise of the queen, in codes over the phone so that the news is hidden from the media until the time is right. 65 years ago King George’s death was conveyed over the phone by the use of the code “Hyde park corner” to the highest level officials. This system is used for carrying out protocols without outside interference. This time the code for the future demise of the Queen is said to be “London Bridge is down”. This code will then set off several tasks that are part of the protocol which will eventually give rise to the largest, most broadcasted, and definitely the most expensive funeral the world has ever seen.

These pieces of information really make us think about whether we really want to be born a prince or a princess. Imagine being able to kill and get away with it, being able to travel without passports, drive without license etc. But it’s silly to have these powerful privileges and be deprived of simple joys of the world like Monopoly! If you’re born with a royal silver spoon, we got to learn how to abide by its rules, regulations and restrictions.

–Pablo Escobar