£200mn for a Yacht to honor Prince Philip? Britain has far more important priorities

By Richard Sudan

(Richard Sudan is a journalist, writer, and TV reporter for Press TV.)

The news that the UK government, according to reports, is planning an expenditure of £200 million pounds of British taxpayers’ money to build a yacht to honor the late Prince Philip, while perhaps unsurprising, is still nonetheless shocking.

While many in Britain undoubtedly revere the royal family and marked the death of Prince Philip along with pro-royal outlets with a somber tone, whitewashing the many comments he made during his life which caused offence to many, others found the coverage of his death, and funeral beyond excessive, to say the least.

But, regardless, in Britain’s long tradition of honoring a family which are the beneficiaries of a system which caused the death of millions, in the name and cause of the empire, we now learn that Boris Johnson’s government is set to purchase a yacht to honor Prince Philip, officially of course to carry out royal ‘duties’.

The planned move is estimated to see the taxpayer foot a bill of approximately £200 million pounds. 

The proposed yacht, will bear Prince Philip’s name, and will doubtless be celebrated uncritically, by supporters of the royal family in Britain, and also around the world.

But the reality however, is that this expensive gesture has been and will be interpreted as a colossal insult, to those living in Britain, who experience ongoing serious hardship in their lives, struggling to make ends meet, and who may as well inhibit an entirely different universe to the monumentally wealthy royal family.

Over the last few years in Britain, especially under the government which Boris Johnson now leads, poverty has reached extremely high levels.  Scores of people are forced to use food banks as a way of feeding themselves on a day-to-day basis.  Food banks, while representing and being symptomatic of a society with serious problems, have perversely actually been celebrated as an achievement, by some.

Homelessness in Britain, is at record levels, with people sleeping rough on the streets, up and down the country, some literally within touching distance of the financial capital of the world, on the streets, taunted by the shadow of the city of London.

Homeless people also occupy the pavements close to Buckingham Palace, one of the greatest symbols of wealth in the entire world, worth enough money to smash poverty in Britain, but which instead exists as a snub to the poor and downtrodden, while serving as a poignant reminder of mass entrenched widespread inequality.

This tragic reality contradicts the image Britain likes to present to the world.

Nurses, who have acted as the real heroes in society, especially during the pandemic, often fail to earn enough to live on, without being allocated adequate pay rises, and yet now we learn that millions of pounds will be spent to honor Prince Philip, instead of compensating those who have been working on the frontline in the NHS, saving lives, while risking their own.

There are simply so many better ways in which £200 million pounds could be spent in Britain, helping and supporting those that really need help, rather than wasting money on a flamboyant, unnecessary and pointless exercise, in British nationalism.  Prince Philip had enough money lavished on him during his life, and he certainly does not need any more lavished on him in death, not when others who are still alive are far more deserving. Plain and simple. 

Reports suggest for example, that as we approach the 4-year anniversary of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire, that some of those who survived and were made homeless, have still not been provided or offered the right accommodation, despite government promises.

Why not use some of the proposed money for the royal yacht, to make good on the government’s promise to house those people, as former Prime Minister Theresa May promised?

Plans to spend such a large amount of money on a gesture to honor Prince Philip is a powerful and sobering reminder of what the priorities of the British government, and its cheerleaders, really are.

£200 million pounds could have a significant impact in tackling some of the very serious problems in Britain, and could have a lasting impact on countless lives, if spent elsewhere.

The royal family are obscenely wealthy, and serve the function of maintaining a status-quo which is seeing the gap between the most privileged and the most needy, becoming greater than ever before.

Healthcare, education and safeguarding the precious NHS and those that work within it, should be in an ideal world, among the government’s top priorities.

But we do not live in an ideal world.  Britain is run by a government led by Boris Johnson, who has lurched from one crisis to another.  Boris Johnson, will remain loyal first and foremost, not to the people, but to himself and his own ambitions.  And of course, the royal family.

In keeping in line with this, his government’s announcement of plans to splash out millions of pounds on a yacht which will be named after Prince Philip, fits entirely with it’s track record so far, of keeping the impoverished languishing in poverty, and keeping the privileged living a life of luxury.

But, despite all of this, do not expect to see crowds of people in the street opposing the plans to commemorate Prince Philip at such an expensive public price.  Because, the love of the royal family in Britain, or what some would describe as simple psychological indoctrination, runs deep and sadly remains, as firm as ever.

The fact that in the current social and political climate, the government feel they can brazenly get away with such an announcement, concerning plans to spend millions on a royal yacht named after a Prince born in Greece, tells you a great deal, about the reality of modern-day Britain.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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