British Monarchy

The British monarch , or the sovereign is the Head of State of the the United Kingdom and his overseas territories; is at the origin of the executive powers, legal and legislative. The monarch is also the supreme governor of the Church of England, and the chief of the the Commonwealth, and Head of State of 15 British Commonwealth Country.

The monarch resides at the Palais of Buckingham

Although the monarch has an important ceremonial role, makes the United Kingdom of it uses the system of Westminster of a constitutional monarchy, therefore the power of the monarch

In theory, the sovereign is the source of justice; all the procedures are made on its behalf, and the judges decide on his behalf. It cannot be called before a court of justice, except in exceptional cases of civil procedures and with the permission of the Parliament.

Political powers

The Crown has several political powers, although it seldom makes use, of its own boss, some of them. Inter alia, to declare and make the war, to conclude the treaties, to put its veto at a law of the Parliament, to name and revoke the ministers (including the Prime Minister), gracier prisoners, to strike the currency, and to order the Armed forces.

Theoretically, the British government exists only by the pleasure of the monarch. However, its capacities are only “reserve powers” and it uses them only in rare emergency circumstances. Normally, the monarch reaches at the requests of his Government, and the Parliament. Thus, although many acts of Parliament are done on its behalf, they come from the democratic government of the United Kingdom. But even if the monarch contradicted the will of the Parliament, its capacity would be still limited.

By convention, the monarch dissolves the Parliament convenes new elections at the request of the Prime Minister. However, the question of knowing if the monarch must always reach such a request remains open. Another possible situation is when no political party gains majority at the Parliament. Theoretically, the monarch would give the office of Prime Minister to the chief of the party best located to form the government, but it is possible that it is not the majority party in seats.

The monarch must approve all the laws formally before they can apply. The royal assent is given in the French Normand by a representative of the monarch: the formal expressions used are the king (or the queen ) wants it yes (, he wants it), and the king will warn (which wants to say: not). The last time that the royal assent was not given it was by the Queen Anne in 1708. For the laws which are applied directly by the monarch (for example: to make the war, to dissolve the Parliament, etc), it must grant the debate of the Parliament. In 1999, the Queen Elizabeth II did not grant her assent on “the military action against Iraq”, approved by the Parliament, which thus sought to transfer the capacity to decide a military striking against Iraq of the monarch at the Parliament.

Although there is a popular consensus on the existence of monarchy, it is generally accepted that this opinon would change quickly if the monarch were tempted to exert his powers in opposition with the democratically elected government, except, perhaps, in exceptional circumstances.

Members and rules

Currently, the monarch is the Queen Elisabeth II since the February 6th 1952, and the next one would be Charles, prince de Galles, the son of the queen. There exists also a royal family made up of other cousins and children.

The official style of the monarch of today is: Elisabeth II, by the grace of God, queen of the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Northern Ireland and its others kingdoms of the Commonwealth and territories, Chief of the the Commonwealth of the Nations, defendant of the Faith. ( Elizabeth II, by the Grace off God, off the United Kingdom off Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head off the Commonwealth, English ).

The succession with the British throne is limited by the Law of the payment to the Protestant descendants of Sophie, électrice of Hanover, with the male heirs taking precedence over women, and those which are married, excluded the catholics, although there were actions in order to modify these restrictions these last years. In fact, Prince Charles married a former catholic.

Lord Williams de Mostyn said into 1998 that the government would like to change the law to give the priority equalizes independently of the sex. However, the government also believes that such a change would take much parliamentary time, and would require the approval of the other countries of which the British monarch is Head of State. In spite of the public calls for the change by two Ministers for the council, Patricia Hewitt females and Tessa Jowell, no movement was still taken.

The newspaper The Guardian made countryside actively these last years for an abolition of the restriction on the not-Protestants of the succession to the throne. He argues that the restriction can be incompatible with European convention on human rights, which is now integral part of the British law. “an invoice of the rule ten minute” to turn over this restriction was presented in the British House of Commons by the member of Parliament of work Kevin McNamara in 2001, and gained a victory symbolic system once forced with a voice, but did not become law.

On the death of a monarch, the Council of accession meets in the palate of Saint-James, with London. The members of the private adviser, House of Lords are then present, of the Lord Mayor of London, city council men of the town of London, and high commissioners of the countries of the Commonwealth. The Council makes a proclamation declaring the death of the preceding monarch and calls the individual who must inherit the crown. The proclamation is then read aloud at various places, in London, in Edinburgh, in Windsor, and York.

The sovereign is the source of the honor and all dignities. Thus, the crown creates all the Pairie S (peerage is the system of the titles of the nobility which exists in the United Kingdom and is a share of the system of honors of the English. The term can be employed to refer to the whole body titles in a collective direction, or to a specific title) . It determines adhesions of all the orders of knighthood and grants all the honors.

In practice, one grants the majority of peerages and honors on the councils of the Prime Minister and other ministers. However, the sovereign personally determines adhesion about the Jumper, about the Thistle, the Merit and the Order Victorien Royal.

Nevertheless, the sovereign cannot agree itself (or itself) a dignity or an honor. Because the House of Lords decided in the case " Buckhurst peerage" that " the fountain and the source of all dignities cannot obtain a dignity of its own share. There is however no prohibition on the fact of receiving dignities on behalf of foreign sovereigns. Thus, Guillaume I {{er}} was also duke of Normandy in France, and several of the monarchs of the dynasty of Hanover were dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Saint Worsens Romain.

See too

God and my right
List of the residences of the English royal family

External bond

Official site of the British Royal family

Random links: