I did a little digging on the royal families finances and.. well, an accountant might disagree, but from an economists point of view they contribute to the UK's budget rather than take from it. The key is property rights; if you count crown lands, rightfully owned in my view by the royal family, as belonging to them than they're contributing to national finances -- if you consider it property of the state, then the royal family is indeed a drain. Even so, as long as they're well behaved, I'd say you guys get your monies worth. I'd be more worried about this devolution business 8O
I've noticed while she was making her rounds the culture difference. In the UK, she's the queen, but could see in the eyes of the American's looking at her that they held her in no special regard at all, not any more than they would any passing minor celebrity. We don't have national icons like that here, really, just personal ones of sorts. I, for example, try to make business decisions along the lines of "What would Trump do?", but still don't regard him like a King.
Bush though, he wasn't chosen as to be an icon like the Queen, just to do a job. A job that'll be done in 08.. Soon enough that history will say he had every chance possible to make America better than it was when he first arrived, but not too long that he has more time to screw up even more than he already has. Hooray for term limits!