From Mr Stephen David Sir: I feel that Simon Heifer
has rather missed the point. Many would agree that the government is wasteful and is too careless with our money, but that does not render criticism of royal expenditure invalid. The expenditure of the royal family is criticised on very different grounds, and Mr Heifer has simply set up a straw man that he can knock down.
First, unlike the government, there is no constitutional machinery by which we can remove the royal family, however badly they behave or how much of our money they waste. Second, the government has a rational function, which can be explained in a rational way. Even monarchists find it difficult to explain the reasons for the existence of a royal family in a rational and intellectually satisfying way. The cost of maintaining a head of state is a legitimate concern, and hence of the public accounts committee.
Stephen David
ilminster, Somerset
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