The appearance The house of Windsor

Windsor is the family name of the

The position of the monarch in Britain is a perfect illustration of the
royal family. The press sometimes
contradictory nature of the constitution. From the evidence of refers to its members as 'the Wind-
written law only, the Queen has almost absolute power, and it all sors'. Queen Elizabeth is only the
seems very undemocratic. The American constitution talks about fourth monarch with this name. This
'government of the people for the people by the people'. There is no is not because a ' n e w ' royal family
took over the throne of Britain four
law in Britain which says anything like that. In fact, there is no legal
reigns ago. It is because George V,
concept of'the people' at all.
Elizabeth's grandfather, changed the
Every autumn, at the state opening of Parliament, Elizabeth II, w h o family name. It was Saxe-Coburg-
became Queen in i 95"2, makes a speech. In it, she says what 'my Gotha, but during the First World
government' intends to do in the coming year. And indeed, it is her War it was thought better for
the king not to have a German-
government, not the people's. As far as the law is concerned, she can
sounding name.
choose anybody she likes to run the government for her. There are
no restrictions on whom she picks as her Prime Minister. It does not
have to be somebody who has been elected. She could choose me;
she could even choose you. The same is true for her choices of people
to fill some hundred or so other ministerial positions. And if she gets
fed up with her ministers, she can just dismiss them. Officially
speaking, they are all 'servants of the Crown' (not servants of anything
like 'the country' or 'the people'). She also appears to have great
power over Parliament. It is she who summons a Parliament, and she
who dissolves it before a general election (see chapter i o). Nothing
that Parliament has decided can become law until she has agreed to it.
Similarly, it is the Queen, and not any other figure of authority,
w h o embodies the law in the courts. In the USA, when the police
take someone to court to accuse them of a crime, the court records
show that 'the people' have accused that person. In other countries
it might be 'the state' that makes the accusation. But in Britain it is
'the Crown'. This is because of the legal authority of the monarch.
And when an accused person is found guilty of a crime, he or she
might be sent to one of'Her Majesty's' prisons.
Other countries have 'citizens'. But in Britain people are legally
described as 'subjects' - subjects of Her Majesty the Queen. More-
over, there is a principle of English law that the monarch can do
nothing that is legally wrong. In other words, Queen Elizabeth is
above the law.
8 7 The monarchy

• The royal family

• Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

died at the age of 101 in 2 0 0 2 , the year
of the present Queen's Golden Jubilee.
Her tours of bombed areas of London
during the Second World War with her
husband, King GeorgeVI, made her
popular with the British people. She
remained the most consistently
popular member of the royal family
until her death.
• Queen Elizabeth II was born in
1926 and became Queen in 1952
on the death of her father, GeorgeVI,
w h o had reigned since 1936 (when
his elder brother, Edward VIII, gave
up the throne). She is one of the
Princess Margaret The Queen Prince Charles
longest-reigning monarchs in British
history. She is widely respected for The Queen Mother Prince Philip
the w a y in w h i c h she performs her
duties and is generally popular.
• Prince Philip Mountbatten, the • Princess Diana married Prince second son. He is divorced from his
Duke of Edinburgh, married the Charles in 1981 .The couple separated wife, Sarah Ferguson ( w h o is k n o w n
present Queen in 1947. In the 1960s in 1992 and later divorced. Princess to the popular press as 'Fergie').
and 1970s, his outspoken opinions Diana died as the result of a car They have two daughters.
on controversial matters were some- accident in 1997. She was a glamorous • Prince Edward, the Queen's
times embarrassing to the royal family. and popular figure during her lifetime. youngest son, was born in 1964. He
• Princess Margaret, the Queen's • Princess Anne, the Queen's daughter is involved in theatrical production.
younger sister, died in 2 0 0 2 . (also known as the Princess Royal), was He married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999.
• Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, born in 19^0. She separated from her He and his wife are the Duke and
was born in 1948. As the eldest son husband after they had one son and one Duchess ofWessex.
of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, daughter. She married again in 1992. • Prince William (born 1982) and
he is heir to the throne. He is concerned She is widely respected for her charity Prince Henry (born 1984) are the
about the environment and about work, which she does in a spirit sons of Charles and Diana. William is
living conditions in Britain's cities. of realism. next in line to the throne after his
He sometimes makes speeches w h i c h • Prince Andrew, the Duke ofYork, father.
are critical of aspects of modern life. was born in i960 and is the Queen's

The reality
In practice, of course, the reality is very different. In fact, the Queen
cannot choose anyone she likes to be Prime Minister. She has to
choose someone who has the support of the majority of MPs in the
House of Commons (the elected chamber of the two Houses of
Parliament). This is because the law says that 'her' government can
only collect taxes with the agreement of the Commons, so if she did
not choose such a person, the government would stop functioning.
In practice the person she chooses is the leader of the strongest party
in the House of Commons. Similarly, it is really the Prime Minister
who decides who the other government ministers are going to be
(although officially the Prime Minister simply 'advises' the monarch
who to choose).
 T h e r o l e o f the m o n a r c h

It is the same story with Parliament. Again, the Prime Minister will > Honours
talk about 'requesting' a dissolution of Parliament when he or she Twice a year, an Honours List is pub-
wants to hold an election, but it would normally be impossible for lished. The people whose names
the monarch to refuse this 'request'. Similarly, while, in theory, the appear on the list are then sum-
Queen could refuse the royal assent to a bill passed by Parliament — moned to Buckingham Palace where
the Queen presents them with a
and so stop it becoming law (see chapter 9) - no monarch has
token w h i c h entitles them to write
actually done so since the year 1 708. Indeed, the royal assent is so (and be formally addressed with)
automatic that the Queen doesn't even bother to give it in person. K G , or K C B , or C B E , or many other
Somebody else signs the documents for her. possible combinations of letters,
In reality the Queen has almost no power at all. When she opens after their names. The letters stand
for titles such as 'Knight of the Order
Parliament each year the speech she makes has been written for her.
of the Garter', 'Knight Commander
She makes no secret of this fact. She very obviously reads out the of the Order of the Bath', ' C o m -
script that has been prepared for her, word for word. If she strongly mander of the British Empire', and
disagrees with one of the policies of the government, she might ask so on. Life peerages are also
the government ministers to change the wording in the speech a awarded, w h i c h entitle the recipi-
ents to a seat in the House of Lords.
little beforehand, but that is all. She cannot actually stop the govern-
Traditionally, it was by giving
ment going ahead with any of its policies.
people titles such as these that the
monarch 'honoured' them in return
The role of the monarch for their services. These days, the
decision about w h o gets w h i c h
What, then, is the monarch's role? Many opinions are offered by honour is usually taken by the Prime
political and legal experts. Three roles are often mentioned. First, Minister (see chapter 8 ) . And, as you
the monarch is the personal embodiment of the government of the can see, the names of the titles don't
country. This means that people can be as critical as they like about seem to make much sense in modern
times. But that does not stop people
the real government, and can argue that it should be thrown out,
finding it a real 'honour' to be given
without being accused of being unpatriotic. Because of the clear
a title by the monarch herself! A
separation between the symbol of government (the Queen) and the high proportion of honours are
actual government (the ministers, who are also MPs), changing the given to politicians and civil ser-
government does not threaten the stability of the country as a whole. vants, but they are also given to busi-
Other countries without a monarch have to use something else as the ness people, sports stars, rock
musicians and other entertainers.
symbol of the country. In the USA, for example, one of these is its
flag, and to damage the flag in any way is actually a criminal offence.
Second, it is argued that the monarch could act as a final check on
a government that was becoming dictatorial. If the government ever
managed to pass a bill through Parliament which was obviously
terribly bad and very unpopular, the monarch could refuse the royal
assent and the bill would not become law. Similarly, it is possible that
if a Prime Minister who had been defeated at a general election (and
so no longer commanded a majority in the House of Commons) were
to ask immediately for another dissolution of Parliament (so that
another election could take place), the monarch could refuse the
request and dismiss the Prime Minister.
Third, the monarch has a very practical role to play. By being a
figurehead and representing the country, Queen Elizabeth II can
perform the ceremonial duties which heads of state often have to
spend their time on. This way, the real government has more time
to get on with the actual job of running the country. The Beatles with their MBEs
8o 7 The monarchy

The value of the monarchy

However, all these advantages are hypothetical. It cannot be proved
that only a monarch can provide them. Other modern democracies
manage perfectly well without one. The British monarchy is probably
more important to the economy of the country (> The economic
argument) than it is to the system of government. Apart from this, the
monarchy is very popular with the majority of the British people.
The monarchy gives British people a symbol of continuity, and a
harmless outlet for the expression of national pride. Even in very hard
times it has never seemed likely that Britain would turn to a dictator
to get it out of its troubles. The grandeur of its monarchy may have
The Queen, attracting foreign tourists
been one of the reasons for this.
Occasions such as the state opening of Parliament, the Queen's
The economic argument official birthday, royal weddings, and ceremonial events such as the
Every tourist brochure for Britain in changing of the guard make up for the lack of colour and ceremony
every country in the w o r l d gives in most people's daily lives. (There is no tradition of local parades as
great prominence to the monarchy.
there is in the USA, and very few traditional local festivals survive as
It is impossible to estimate exactly
h o w much the British royal family
they do in other European countries.) In addition the glamorous
and the events and buildings associ- lives of 'the royals' provide a source of entertainment that often takes
ated with the monarchy help the on the characteristics of a television soap opera. When, in 1 992, it
tourist industry, or exactly h o w became known that Prince Charles and his wife Princess Diana were
much money they help to bring into
separating, even the more 'serious' newspapers discussed a lot more
the country. But most people
working in tourism think it is an
than the possible political implications. The Sunday Times published a
awful lot! 'five-page royal separation special'.

Edward and Mrs Simpson The future of the monarchy

For the last two centuries the public For the last 2^0 years, the British monarchy as an institution has
have wanted their monarch to have only rarely been a burning political issue. Only occasionally has
high moral standards. In 1 9 3 6
there been debate about the existence of the monarchy itself. Few
Edward V I I I , the uncle of the
present Queen, was forced to abdic-
people in Britain could be described as either 'monarchists' or
ate (give up the throne). This 'anti-monarchists', in the sense in which these terms are often
happened because he wanted to used in other countries. Most people are either vaguely in favour
marry a w o m a n w h o had divorced or they just don't care one way or the other. There is, however, a
two husbands. (On top of that, she
great deal of debate about what kind of monarchy Britain should
was not even a British aristocrat —
she was an American!) The govern-
have. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, there
ment and the major churches in the has been a general cooling of enthusiasm. The Queen herself
country insisted that Edward could remains popular. But the various marital problems in her family
not marry her and remain king. He have lowered the prestige of royalty in many people's eyes. The
chose to marry her. The couple then
problem is that, since Queen Victoria's reign, the public have been
went to live abroad. In spite of the
constitutional crisis that he caused,
encouraged to look up to the royal family as a model of Christian
the Duke of Windsor (as Edward family life.
later became) and his wife were The change in attitude can be seen by comparing Queen Elizabeth's
popular celebrities in Britain all their 25th anniversary as Queen with her 40th anniversary. In 1 9 7 7 , there
lives, and the king's abdication has
were neighbourhood street parties throughout the country, most of
gone d o w n in popular history as an
example of the p o w e r of love. them spontaneously and voluntarily organized. But in 1 9 9 2 , nothing
like this took place. On 20 November 1 9 9 2 , a fire damaged one of
the Queen's favourite homes to the value of £60 million. There were
 T h e future o f the m o n a r c h y

expressions of public sympathy for the Queen. But when the • One's bum year
government announced that public money was going to pay for the The Sun is Britain's most popular
repairs, the sympathy quickly turned to anger. The Queen had daily newspaper (see chapter 1 8 ) .
recently been reported to be the richest woman in the world, so This was its front page headline after
people didn't see why she shouldn't pay for them herself. the Queen had spoken of 1 9 9 2 as an
annus horribilis (Latin for 'a horrible
It is, in fact, on the subject of money that 'anti-royalist' opinions
year'). As well as the separation of
are most often expressed. In the early nineties even some Conservat- Charles and Diana, 1 992 had
ive MPs, traditionally strong supporters of the monarchy, started included the fire at Windsor Castle
protesting at how much the royal family was costing the country. and the news that Australia was
For the whole of her long reign Elizabeth II had been exempt from intending to break its ties with the
'old country' and become a republic.
taxation. But, as a response to the change in attitude, the Queen
The headline uses the similarity
decided that she would start paying taxes on her private income. In
between 'annus' and 'anus' to make
addition, Civil List payments to some members of the royal family a pun o f ' b u m ' (which, in colloquial
were stopped. (The Civil List is the money which the Queen and British English, can mean both
some of her relatives get from Parliament each year so that they can 'anus' and 'horrible'). It also mimics
carry out their public duties.) the supposed frequent use by the
Queen of the pronoun 'one' to mean
For most people, the most notable event marking Queen
' i / m e ' . The headline thus mixes the
Elizabeth's 40th anniversary was a television programme about a year very formal-sounding 'one' with the
in her life which showed revealing details of her private family life. very colloquial 'bum'. It is imposs-
In the following year parts of Buckingham Palace were, for the first ible to imagine that such a
time, opened for public visits (to raise money to help pay for the disrespectful (and unsympathetic)
headline could have appeared in the
repairs to Windsor Castle). These events are perhaps an indication of
1 9 J O S or 1 960s.
the future royal style — a little less grand, a little less distant.

QUESTIONS

1 Why does the British Prime Minister continue 3 Would you advise the British to get rid of their
to 'advise' and 'request' the Queen, when monarchy?
everybody knows that he or she is really telling 4 Do you have a monarch in your country, or
her what to do? someone w h o fulfils a similar role? If you do,
2 The attitude of the British people towards their how does their position compare with that of
royal family has changed over the last quarter the British monarch? If you don't, do you think
of the twentieth century. In what way has it your country would benefit from having a
changed, and what demonstrates that there has figurehead who could perform the functions of
been a change? Why do you think this has a monarch?
happened?

SUGGESTIONS

The Queen and I by Sue Townsend (Mandarin) includes humorous

characterizations of the main members of the royal family.
Books about the monarchy abound. Among them are: The Prince of
Wales: A Biography by Jonathan Dimbleby (Little, Brown and
Company), The Queen by Kenneth Harris (Orion), Elizabeth R: The Role of
the Monarchy Today by Antony Jay (BBC Books), Diana, Her True Story and
Diana, Her New Life, both by Andrew Morton (Michael O'Mara Books
Limited).