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It isn't just the middle east. Follow UK history, or any other royal system, and you will find the primary job of the King is always to appease, flatter, suppr
by sandworm101 3y ago
It isn't just the middle east. Follow UK history, or any other royal system, and you will find the primary job of the King is always to appease, flatter, suppress, or otherwise occupy the elite families that might one day challenge his. It continues to the present day. All those garden parties. All those property development schemes. All those royal charities run by Oxbridge grads. All those offshore tax havens. Royal families today play the same games in Europe as they do in the middle east. It isn't healthy, but the system has survived the centuries.
- gambiting 3y agoIt's not even remotely on the same scale as the Saudis though. British monarchy is wealthy but compared to the Saudi wealth they are paupers.
- sandworm101 3y agoA UK Peer recently commented that the best way to own property in the UK was to have a relative who was a friend of William the Conqueror. The royal system and its impacts are alive and well today. It is often cited as a reason behind the insane property prices in the UK, with long-held family land restricted the development necessary to meaningfully drop living costs. >> Just 0.3% of the population – 160,000 families – own two thirds of the country. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/high-house-prices-inequality-normans https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/high-h...
- gbear605 3y agoThe difference is that in the Middle East most of the wealth comes from the land because of oil reserves. In the UK, owning land makes lots of money, but there are plenty of industries that are not based on extracting resources.