Some centuries ago, pirates* were an ongoing major problem for Britain. Eventually, a competent & responsible monarch ascended to the throne - and organized & enlarged the Royal Navy to actually deal with that problem. (Not saying it was consistently well-managed thereafter.)
No, that wasn't cheap. But compared to the losses to piracy, or costs of each merchant arming & manning his ships so heavily that they could (usually) drive off pirates, the taxes to support the RN were pretty clearly the lesser evil.
Unfortunately, I don't see Charles III being competent nor responsible enough to do much anything about this new problem. Not that the monarch has the legal authority, these days.
bell-cot•1d ago
No, that wasn't cheap. But compared to the losses to piracy, or costs of each merchant arming & manning his ships so heavily that they could (usually) drive off pirates, the taxes to support the RN were pretty clearly the lesser evil.
Unfortunately, I don't see Charles III being competent nor responsible enough to do much anything about this new problem. Not that the monarch has the legal authority, these days.
*This kind of pirate - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy#Middle_Ages Not the IP law kind.