What “Downton” Can Teach The Queen
That’s the premise of this article by Tim Teeman, responding to the official report this week that the reserve fund for keeping up the queen’s homes is dwindling down to a precious few pounds. Crying poverty, Mr. Teeman doesn’t seem fully to understand, is often a ploy to drum up sympathy and to increase allocations from legislative bodies. What’s more, Mr. Teeman seems to think that the Queen is, like many aristocrats such as those on “Downton,” threatened with “genteel impoverishment.” This is absolutely ludicrous. The Queen’s own assets, distinct from what the state controls, are worth hundreds of millions, perhaps billions. This fact is not publicized because every time it is a segment of the British taxpayers cry for her taxpayer allotment to be cut. So the idea that the Queen needs to learn from the fictional Earl of Grantham — that she needs to modernize in order not to end up in the poorhouse — couldn’t be further from the truth. And, Mr. Teeman, in the episode of “Downton” most recently broadcast in Britain — the Christmas installment — the “Downton” folk visit Buckingham Palace, or what passes for it. The place hardly looks as if it’s in danger of desuetude.
