question: With a parliament system with elected officials in the UK, what purpose does the Royal Family serve?
comment: IIRC,Nothing much, they exist due to tradition. So while technically they are in charge of the military and country they just follow what parliament wants. They can use their powers to stop certain proceedings, but it’s almost never done as interfering with the politicos can cause massive backlash. Some links that go more in depth: [Today I Found Out]( URL_0 ) they do a good job of making it simple and providing sources in description.
passages: In addition, certain relatives of the monarch (by blood or marriage) possess special privileges and are subject to certain statutes, conventions, or special common law. The precise functions of a royal family vary depending on whether the polity in question is an absolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, or somewhere in between. In certain monarchies, such as that found in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, or in political systems where the monarch actually exercises executive power, such as in Jordan, it is not uncommon for the members of a royal family to hold important government posts or military commands. In most constitutional monarchies, however, members of a royal family perform certain public, social, or ceremonial functions, but refrain from any involvement in electoral politics or the actual governance of the country.
   There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member of the royal family. The group is loosely defined as the extended family of the monarch who, either as representatives of the monarch or as part of their own charitable endeavours, perform public duties at events throughout the 16 realms each year. Events are funded in the same way as the monarch's ceremonial roles, and are formally recorded in the Court Circular. Members of the royal family draw enormous media coverage in the form of photographic, written, and televised commentary on not only their activities and public roles, but also family relationships, rites of passage, personalities, attire, and behaviour.
   Among many of these households there are certain great offices which have become, in course of time, merely hereditary. In most cases, as the name of the office would suggest, they were held by those who discharged personal functions about the sovereign. Gradually, in ways or for reasons which might vary in each individual case, the office alone survived, the duties either ceasing to be necessary or being transferred to officers of less exalted station.
  
  In the modern period, royal households have evolved into entities which are variously differentiated from national governments. Most modern households have become merely titular.
  
  Section::::Europe.
   Some members of the royal family have official residences named as the places from which announcements are made in the Court Circular about official engagements they have carried out. The state duties and staff of some members of the royal family are funded from a parliamentary annuity, the amount of which is fully refunded by the Queen to the Treasury.
   In particular, members of the royal house other than the monarch and the heir-apparent have no official tasks within the Dutch government and do not receive stipends. They are responsible for their own conduct and their own income. They may be asked to stand in from time to time such as to accompany the monarch on a state visit if the consort is ill, but this is always a personal favor and not an official duty. In addition, they are not exempt from taxation.
   Historic Royal Palaces was originally set up in 1989 as an executive agency of the Department of the Environment. In 1998 it became an independent charity, which is contracted by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to manage the palaces on behalf of the Queen. It receives no funding from the Government or the Crown, depending on the support of visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. 4.25 million people visited the palaces in the 2014–15 financial year.
   Despite the wealth of the CPB, the royal family receives funds from the government for expenses. Around US$170 million annually in state funding covers the salaries of staff working in the Royal Household Bureau and other palace offices, plus security provided for the royal family by police and armed forces. Public funds also cover the costs of many royal rural development projects. Separately, there is the "budget for the promotion of the dignity of the monarchy", which is granted to government offices for propaganda works. This came to US$438 million in 2015.
  
  Section::::Background.
   During a temporary physical infirmity or an absence from the kingdom, the sovereign may temporarily delegate some of his or her functions to Counsellors of State, the monarch's spouse and the first four adults in the line of succession. The present Counsellors of State are: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of York.
  
  Section::::Finances.
   As such, the king or queen is the employer of all government officials and staff (including the viceroys, judges, members of the armed forces, police officers, and parliamentarians), the guardian of foster children ("Crown wards"), as well as the owner of all state lands ("Crown land"), buildings and equipment ("Crown held property"), state owned companies ("Crown corporations"), and the copyright for government publications ("Crown copyright"). This is all in his or her position as sovereign, and not as an individual; all such property is held by the Crown in perpetuity and cannot be sold by the sovereign without the proper advice and consent of his or her relevant ministers.
   Members and relatives of the British royal family historically represented the monarch in various places throughout the British Empire, sometimes for extended periods as viceroys, or for specific ceremonies or events. Today, they often perform ceremonial and social duties throughout the United Kingdom and abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom. Aside from the monarch, their only constitutional role in the affairs of government is to serve, if eligible and when appointed by letters patent, as a Counsellor of State, two or more of whom exercise the authority of the Crown (within stipulated limits) if the monarch is indisposed or abroad. In the other countries of the Commonwealth royalty do not serve as Counsellors of State, although they may perform ceremonial and social duties on behalf of individual states or the organisation.
   Members of the Royal Family have been present in Australia since the late 1800s, on military manoeuvres, for official tours, or as the vice-regal representative of the monarch. The Queen was the first reigning monarch of Australia to set foot on Australian soil on 3 February 1954. The Queen has visited the country 16 times, usually on important milestones, anniversaries, or celebrations of Australian culture, while other royals have been asked to participate in lesser occasions. In these instances, when acting at the direction of the Australian Cabinet, they do so as monarch of Australia and members of the Royal Family, respectively, and carry out two types of duties: official and unofficial.
   BULLET::::- Advisor to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
  
  BULLET::::- 2009–2019: Sir David Manning
  
  BULLET::::- 2019–present: Jason Knauf
  
  BULLET::::- Communication Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
  
  BULLET::::- –2014: Ed Perkins
  
  BULLET::::- 2014–2019: Jason Knauf
  
  BULLET::::- 2019–present: Christian Jones
  
  BULLET::::- Deputy Communication Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry:
  
  BULLET::::- –2016: Nick Loughran
  
  BULLET::::- Official Spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry:
  
  BULLET::::- –2013: Paddy Harverson, also Communications Secretary at Clarence House
  
  Section::::Household of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
   BULLET::::- To support the advancement of education by promoting public understanding of the history, culture, heritage and natural environment of the Royal Parks and (by way of comparison) elsewhere; and
  
  BULLET::::- To promote national heritage including by hosting and facilitating ceremonies of state or of national importance within and in the vicinity of the Royal Parks.
  
  Section::::The Royal Parks Board.
   A number of Canadian civilian organizations have association with the monarchy, either through their being founded via a royal charter, having been granted the right to use the prefix "royal" before their name, or because at least one member of the Royal Family serves as a patron. In addition to The Prince's Charities Canada, established by Charles, Prince of Wales, some other charities and volunteer organizations have also been founded as gifts to, or in honour of, some of Canada's monarchs or members of the Royal Family, such as the Victorian Order of Nurses (a gift to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897), the Canadian Cancer Fund (set up in honour of King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935), and the Queen Elizabeth II Fund to Aid in Research on the Diseases of Children. A number of awards in Canada are likewise issued in the name of previous or present members of the Royal Family. Further, organizations will give commemorative gifts to members of the Royal Family to mark a visit or other important occasion.
   Charitable and other non-profit making organisations often seek an influential figurehead to act as patron. The relationship often does not involve money. As well as conferring credibility, these people can use their contacts and charisma to assist the organisation to raise funds or to affect government policy. The British Royal Family are especially prolific in this respect, devoting a large proportion of their time to a wide range of causes.
  
  Section::::Commercial.
   "Official duties" involve the sovereign representing the Canadian state at home or abroad, or her relations as members of the Royal Family participating in government organized ceremonies either in Canada or elsewhere; sometimes these individuals are employed in asserting Canada's sovereignty over its territories. The advice of the Canadian Cabinet is the impetus for royal participation in any Canadian event, though, at present, the Chief of Protocol and his staff in the Department of Canadian Heritage are, as part of the State Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Program, responsible for orchestrating any official events in or for Canada that involve the Royal Family.
   Council of State (Netherlands)
  
  The Council of State () is a constitutionally established advisory body in the Netherlands to the government and States General that officially consists of members of the royal family and Crown-appointed members generally having political, commercial, diplomatic or military experience. It was founded in 1531, making it one of the world's oldest still-functioning state organisations.
   As such, the king or queen of Canada is the employer of all government officials and staff (including the viceroys, judges, members of the Canadian Forces, police officers, and parliamentarians), the guardian of foster children ("Crown wards"), as well as the owner of all state lands ("Crown land"), buildings and equipment ("Crown held property"), state owned companies ("Crown corporations"), and the copyright for all government publications ("Crown copyright"). This is all in his or her position as sovereign, and not as an individual; all such property is held by the Crown in perpetuity and cannot be sold by the sovereign without the proper advice and consent of his or her ministers.
   The monarch takes little direct part in governing the country, and remains neutral in political affairs. However, the legal authority of the state that is vested in the sovereign, known as The Crown, remains the source of the executive power exercised by the government.
   The Secretary of State has responsibility for the maintenance of the land and buildings making up the historic Royal Estate under the Crown Lands Act 1851. These inherited functions, which were once centralised in the Office of Works, are now delivered as follows:
  
  BULLET::::- The Royal Parks are maintained by an executive agency within DCMS, the Royal Parks Agency;
  
  BULLET::::- The Unoccupied Royal Palaces in England are managed by a contract with Historic Royal Palaces;
   Monarchs and members of their family have also owned in a private capacity homes and land in Canada: King Edward VIII owned Bedingfield Ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta; the Marquess of Lorne and Princess Louise owned a cottage on the Cascapédia River in Quebec; and Princess Margaret owned Portland Island between its gifting to her by the Crown in Right of British Columbia in 1958 and her death in 2002, though she offered it back to the Crown on permanent loan in 1966 and the island and surrounding waters eventually became Princess Margaret Marine Park.
   Apart from Australia, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family regularly perform public duties in the other 15 nations of the Commonwealth in which the Queen is sovereign. As the Crown within these countries is a legally separate entity from the Australian Crown, it is funded in these countries individually, through the ordinary legislative budgeting process.
  
  Section::::Cultural role.:Symbols.
   The press frequently follows the movements of the Royal Family, and can, at times, affect the group's popularity, which has fluctuated over the years. Mirroring the mood in the United Kingdom, the family's lowest approval was during the mid-1980s to 1990s, when the children of the monarch were enduring their divorces and were the targets of negative tabloid reporting.
  
  Section::::Federal residences and royal household.
   Section::::Broadcasts.
   Under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, the system of funding the Royal Household by a mixture of Civil List payments and Grants-in-Aid was replaced. From 1 April 2012 a single annual Sovereign Grant has been paid by the Treasury. The level of funding for the Royal Household is now linked to the Government's revenue from The Crown Estate.
  