The Royal Family are an asset to the UK

I agree to the Con's definitions 1) You claim that UK calls itself a Democracy but many sources classify the UK as a Constitutional Monarchy combined with a Parliamentary system, so it is essentially a hybrid of monarchy and democracy, http://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.parliament.uk... http://www.infoplease.com... The monarchy exists only as a celebrated figurehead, the actual influence the royal family has on passing laws exists through the Prime Minister, who represents the monarchy, and the Prime Minister is appointed by the monarchy while the rest of Parliament is elected by the people. The power of the Prime Minister is primarily to guides the law-making process within the Parliament, he does not have veto powers like the US president has. To summarize the monarchy allows for democracy to thrive I the UK, and the royal family doesnt have supreme executive power, they exist as a figurehead. 2) The Monarchy in the UK existed more than just to run an empire. The monarchy reminds British people of their roots and where they came from and inspires patriotism among British citizens whether they live in the UK today or in the British empire in the past. Just because it is old doesn't mean it should be thrown away, should we get rid of the US national anthem because it is old? The Monarchy does serve a purpose, they are very important factors in international politics and international negotiations, they inspire patriotism among British people, and the monarchy is there to lead people through hard times. In "The King's Speech" for example the Monarchy was central into leading the British people into and through the darkness of WWII, without them British people would have been less inspired and hopeful while facing the Nazi's. Also consider the death of the sweet Princess Diana in 1997 was a tragedy for the UK because she was an idolized and beloved figure in the Monarchy to the British people and to the world over. Her wedding was televised to 750 MILLION people, twice the size of the entire US :O. When she died the world mourned, but it was the Royal Family who helped lead people past her tragic death and to continue on with their lives. The royal family doesnt inspire just the UK, in fact the royal family is recognized as royalty by many nations, Antigua, Barbuda, Australia, Canada, Belieze, Granada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, etc all respect the royal family and see them as royalty. The Royal family not only serves a purpose to the UK, but to many parts f the entire world. Lastly Men no longer have priority over women, that was actually changed very recently along with other archaic laws. http://www.ncregister.com... http://www.miamiherald.com... http://www.telegraph.co.uk... 3) The royal family isnt always perfect, nobody is.... We havent had one president who was completely perfect does that men we should have gotten rid of them when they were in power? I certainly dont think so. FDR for example at the start of WWII put Japanese Americans into camps, should we have immediately done away with him because he made a mistake even though he had done so much good for the country? Also consider that these were just minor instances of racism. I doubt that the Prince's actually believe in the Nazi ideology or that people who go to china end up looking Chinese, it is just an instance of poor word choice that the media fed on. 4) " The Royal Family cost billions each year" Price of the royal family = 60 million dollars (35 million British pounds) http://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.bbc.co.uk... The UK has a population of 62 million people, so financing the royal family per taxpayer literally cost less than 1 British Pound Sterling per person, so it is entirely manageable to maintain the royal family in Britain. Tourism generates well over 100 million dollars in the UK anyway so the economic footprint the Royal Family has on the UK is entirely manageable. 5) Those were dark times in history for humanity, but that was the economic system of slave labor that caused that, not the Royal Family, The Royal Family was also in existence when WWI broke out, but they didnt cause that either. Also the Royal family doesnt authorize or maintain trade between nations, therefore they do not pose any sort of "problem" to the trade system like you said. Why get rid of something that does not hinder trade?