Windsor Castle Cafe

So the monarchy is in good shape, not just for now but for generations to come. Look at the £37 million of renovations to Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse that are being announced today, to better cater to the hordes of paying tourists (from Britain and far beyond) desperate to get a glimpse of our royal households. Some will not doubt moan that this is a waste of public money.

Well it isn’t, because it isn’t public money. It comes from the Royal Collection Trust, which gets its cash from gift shops and entrance fees. The trust has given us the glorious Queen’s Galleries in Scotland and London, and opened almost all the royal palaces to the public – including Holyrood, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Even if it proved true that by 2030 the Monarchy was of no importance, we would want these buildings and their contents preserved and enhanced for our pleasure. But of course it won’t be. How do we know? Because to my entrepreneurial eye, nothing betrays confidence like cold hard cash. The “Firm” as the Royal Family is known, is a corporation riding high, and with these building works is investing in its future. Rightly so. The need to invest to meet overwhelming public demand is a far greater barometer of future health that the fortune cookie predictions of an academic.