Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September and the crowning of King Charles III shortly after, Oliver asked the question, “What is the point of the monarchy?” on his show, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, and examined the tasks, responsibilities and expenses that the royal family is subject to before adding that they do a lot of mundane things, like send birthday cards to U.K. citizens who turn 100.
“Think of the royals as Mickey and Minnie at Disneyland,” Oliver said on Sunday night. “They’re not running the rides, but they’re a mascot for the whole operation and people kinda like having their pictures taken with them.”
Oliver highlighted that while the role of the monarchy, as stated on the official Royal U.K. website, is acting as “a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity,” the symbol of the Sovereign is an expensive one for U.K. citizens.
“Britains pay millions of pounds every year to support the royals,” Oliver said. The British government gives the royal family about £100 million a year as part of the Sovereign Grant, and supporters of the monarchy argue that they can make about £500 million a year in tourism.
Oliver jokingly argued that the money generated from tourism won’t go away if the monarchy does; “You can still visit a palace if nobody lives inside it,” Oliver said. “No one shows up to Versaille and says, ‘Wait, no one lives here? It’s a hard pass for me.’”
Oliver explained several of the other avenues of profits for the royal family before stating, “The royal family’s wealth, unlike their gene pool, is massive.”
“I think my position on the royal family is pretty well documented. To me, they’re like a human appendix,” Oliver said. “We’ve long evolved past needing them and there’s a compelling case for their surgical removal.”
The queen’s death incited much anger and criticism, as well as mourning, as many took up the debate of her role in British colonialism in Africa.
In September, political scientist and author David Moscrop tweeted, “The monarchy as an institution, whatever else it is and whatever virtues you may believe it has, is a source and symbol of past and present colonialism. As a news event this has implications for how we govern ourselves now and in the future. So it’s not too soon to have these conversations.”
Oliver echoed the same sentiments on Sunday. “‘Have your arguments about colonialism or whatever,’” he said, quoting a commentator on a news segment he showed minutes before, “is very much what we should be doing. Not glossing over it and forcing people to mourn a symbol of a painful past.”
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Oliver and Buckingham Palace for additional comment.
