I don’t know how much power the British royalty actually have, but probably more than other royal families since the British monarch is also the head of the Anglican church. That not only has them enmeshed with the state, but also breaks church-state separation. 🤷

The pageantry, is what drives the souvenir market: for every birth, coming of age, marriage, coronation, random events, then death… and rinse and repeat, there is a ton of souvenirs getting sold, commemorative coins, random mementos, etc.

Like, right now, Sotheby’s is auctioning… the set props from the series The Royals. Not even the actual things, just the props, and they start “cheap” at only 800-1000£ the cheapest. Sure they’re supposed to donate any benefits to charity, but then the series itself was only so successful because of the pageantry.

Turns out the state collects taxes on all of that, so the money spent on monarchs, is more like an actor’s salary. They also get other sources of income, like donations from businesses to act as international representatives, profits from the businesses they own themselves, or bribes presents from foreign representatives for their mediation in trade negotiations.