Does the Royal Family Have Any Government Power
Queen Elizabeth 2 is i of the most famous and admired people on Earth. As the nominal leader of the United Kingdom since 1952—making her the country's longest-serving monarch—her influence is felt the earth over. But despite that enormous influence, the Queen holds no existent power in British government. Instead, as the monarchy evolved over hundreds of years, her role has go largely symbolic.
Historic Powers of the Monarchy
King John signing Magna Carta.
Historical Picture Archive/Corbis/Getty Images
For centuries, the English monarchy held a swell deal of authority, but its history is full of challenges to that power and of concessions to nobles. Most famously, King John's signing of Magna Carta in 1215 acknowledged that the monarchy'due south powers did have limits and, crucially, established that the crown could not levy taxes without the consent of a council of religious officials and feudal lords. That council of wealthy and powerful figures evolved into Parliament, which gradually took on a greater role as English people began to appeal to it to solve disputes and ship representatives to petition information technology on their behalf.
Parliament'south office ultimately depended on how much power the monarch wanted to requite it, and how much he or she needed Parliament'due south support. King Charles I governed without Parliament for over a decade, setting into motion events that would end with his beheading and the abolition of the monarchy in 1649. Parliament then ruled without a king until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
In the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Parliament invited William II of Orange and his wife, Mary II, to invade England and depose Rex James 2, who wanted absolute power. William and Mary then assented to the Beak of Rights, which legally required Parliament to be held regularly, granted total freedom of spoken communication in Parliament and instituted various ceremonious liberties. Britain does not have a single, written constitution like that of the United states, but foundational documents like Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights formally took ability from the crown and gave it to Parliament.
READ MORE: How Magna Carta Influenced the U.s.a. Constitution
British Government Evolves
Over fourth dimension Parliament evolved into a truthful representative authorities, similar to the Congress of the United States. Its upper house, the House of Lords, consists of nobles and originally held nearly all of Parliament'south power, merely over the centuries the lower house, the House of Commons, grew more powerful. Past the 1700s, the Commons had obtained the sole correct to initiate taxes, meaning that a legislative body consisting of elected officials—though most people still couldn't vote—controlled the country's purse.
The monarch retains the right to "invite" whomever he or she pleases to class a government, but this is a holdover from the time when "Prime number Minister" was an breezy mode of referring to the Member of Parliament selected by the king or queen to pb proceedings. For well over a century, the crown has always extended this "invitation" to the leader of the party that controls of Parliament—the last fourth dimension a British monarch tried to impose his preferred Prime Government minister on Parliament was in 1834, and it didn't piece of work. Also, the representative regime is said to govern "in her name," and her formal assent is still required for many of the functions of state, just for the Queen to criticize, impede, or fail to assent to the will of Parliament would be a violation of over a century of tradition.
The Queen's Role in Government Today
Queen Elizabeth 2 works at her desk on the Royal Train in May of 2002.
Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
The Queen remains the caput of British state, the highest representative of the Britain on the national and international stage. The caput of the British government, however, is the Prime Minister. I serves as a symbol of the land and the other serves equally the master executive of the government.
In her function as head of state, Queen Elizabeth 2 gives a regular speech at the opening of each new Parliament and makes official appearances and speeches on holidays and special occasions. The Queen keeps in close contact with the Prime Minister and is regularly briefed on all of import national matters, merely never publicly weighs in on political debates—nor are any final decisions up to her.
Every bit the Royal Family has shed nigh of its political powers, Queen Elizabeth, her husband and her children have emphasized their roles in various charitable organizations—the Queen is the titular "patron" of over 600 charities, although this part consists more often than not of drawing attention to the causes. Her presence during some of the great crises in contempo British history, including the COVID-19 pandemic, has drawn praise.
Every bit United kingdom's global empire crumbled in the wake of World War Two, a number of its formal colonies alleged independence but chose enter the Democracy of Nations, of which the Queen remains the figurehead. Citizens of Commonwealth of australia, Canada and many island nations across the earth consider themselves subjects of Queen Elizabeth, who famously toured 13 of these "Commonwealth realms" in 1953. Elizabeth appears on the currency of many of these nations and her visits are usually a crusade for celebration, only her duties there, as in her home state, are entirely formalism.
READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II's Reign: Then and Now
Source: https://www.history.com/news/what-is-the-queens-role-in-british-government
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