It is unrealistic to expect the privileged to voluntarily forego their privileges. They very rarely do. Occasional examples such as King Lear have proven sceptics to be right. Not even the Bill Gates and Warren Buffets of this world, who have passed astounding parts of their wealth to charitable foundations, have concluded that the system that enables them to amass such wealth is sick and requires repair, not even that it needs tweaking. And yet, revolution is not likely. The cleverly designed social-democrat structures in Western countries and the bloody experience with Communism disarm the incentive to revolt.
The Queen is no exception. Why should she? But amazingly, generation after generation of public servants and politicians furtively collaborate and are instrumental in the Queen’s effort at increasing her own wealth.
The latest revelation is that the Queen’s courtiers successfully lobbied to exempt Balmoral, her private property in Scotland, from a law that was designed to cut carbon emissions through the construction of heat pipelines. Why grant the Queen exemptions, which other property owners do not enjoy?
It turns out that, by convention, the Queen as well as the Prince of Wales are asked for their consent before laws that may have a bearing on their interests are discussed by parliament. The Prince of Wales for example, has successfully acted to prevent his tenants from enjoying the rights granted by law to tenants of non-royal estates.
The Queen has been at it for years. She is income-tax exempt and only started paying tax “voluntarily” in 1992 and she is still exempt from inheritance tax.
The time is long-overdue for all these privileges to be done away with. There is no justification for them. More than that, politicians should finally learn that they are public servants and not the Queen’s.
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