Key Takeaways

• The British Monarch does not have a political or executive role for the nation. It has been said of a constitutional monarchy that the monarch is "A sovereign who reigns but does not rule."
• The political scientist Walter Bagehot stated that Britain's monarch has three main political rights: "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn."
• The monarchy engages with the public through royal visits and award ceremonies. Not only does this nurture voluntary and community action among the country's people, it also helps to reach various parts of the population that politicians are unable to reach. The monarch can act as "the conscience of the nation" and at times speak up for those who are overlooked or forgotten by the political process.

Introduction

Overview of the UK Monarchy

• An absolute monarchy "serves as the sole source of political power" and is not bound legally to any constitution. In contrast, a constitutional monarchy has a monarch serving as head of the state but they must act within the confines of a written, unwritten, or a blended framework of parameters included in a constitution. In the United Kingdom, this means that the monarch serves as Head of State primarily as a symbol of power while the burden of making and passing any legislation lies in the hands of an elected Parliament.
• The British Monarch does not have a political or executive role for the nation. It has been said of a constitutional monarchy that the monarch is "A sovereign who reigns but does not rule."
• A political scientist named Walter Bagehot stated that Britain's monarch has three main political rights: "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn."

 

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Political Responsibilities of the UK Monarchy

• One of the primary responsibilities of the monarch is to be politically impartial and therefore to unify the nation, acting "as a focus for national identity, unity, and pride." It allows the reigning monarch to represent the nation at all times, whether this might be in celebration or morning and in times of crisis. Commenting on this, Bagehot said, "The nation is divided into parties, but the Crown is of no party."
• The monarchy engages with the public through royal visits and award ceremonies. Not only does this nurture voluntary and community action among the country's people, it also helps to reach various parts of the population that politicians are unable to reach. The monarch can act as "the conscience of the nation" and at times speak up for those who are overlooked or forgotten by the political process.
• The reigning monarch also serves as a symbol of stability. The royal family can represent and relate to the various age groups throughout the national population.
• Constitutional monarchs often open sessions of parliament and designate or appoint the prime minister. They also normally accredit and receive ambassadors and formally appoint high-ranking officials. A monarch's presence at official governmental functions and announcements strengthens the legitimacy of governmental acts.

Ways A Monarch Can Impact Political Or Economic Decisions

• The British monarch has the right and power to dismiss a government and call for new elections if the majority party in parliament loses a vote of no confidence. The last time this occurred in the UK was in 1783.
• It has been noted that modern UK monarchs do not attempt to block passed legislation or refuse to appoint politicians when advised by the government as this would likely lead to the end of the monarchy.
• The UK's monarchs may be able to express personal views through the current prime minister. The monarch is constitutionally restricted from expressing an opinion on political issues or speaking publicly about governmental matters.
• The British royal family doesn't directly impact economic decisions by means of policy. However, the family does impact the economy by providing royal warrants, an official seal of approval from the monarch.
• The director of Brand Finance Canada, Charles Scarlett-Smith says: "Royalist or not, the amount of economic benefit that’s brought to the (U.K.) from the existence of the royal family is undeniable."
• Tourism in the UK plays a major role in economic impact, and the royal family contributes to the draw of tourists. From research conducted in 2017, the royal family's "brand" comes in fourth place in the world for overall value.

 

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Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• There are several other proven instances of the Queen using the Queen's consent power to influence changes in state laws and policies, including the 1982 bill relating to national monuments' preservation, the land leasing bill from 1975, and the road safety bill from 1968. 
• Queen leveraged the power of a powerful legislative procedure, called Queen's consent to lobby for changes in the proposed law affecting her assets. A draft bill that was sent to the Queen to gain her formal consent for the bill to be passed and further enacted as a law was withheld by the Queen to lobby the government to allow her to have a special exemption in a law that requires private landowners in Scotland to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy.
•  In November 1973, the Queen, through her private solicitors, lobbied the government to make necessary changes to the transparency bill exempting her from all the transparency measures laid down in the bill.

Introduction

Examples of British Monarchs Influencing State Policy

Queen Elizabeth

• Queen leveraged the power of a powerful legislative procedure, called Queen's consent, to lobby for changes in the proposed law affecting her assets. A draft bill that was sent to the Queen to gain her formal consent for the bill to be passed and further enacted as a law was withheld by her to lobby the government to allow her to have a special exemption in a law that requires private landowners in Scotland to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy.
•  The heat networks bill would have mandated all private land owners to use renewable energy sources while constructing pipelines to heat clusters of homes and businesses instead of using traditional fossil fuel boilers.
• According to the Guardian, in January 2021, Nicola Sturgeon's principal private secretary made a formal application to the Queen's most senior aide seeking her formal consent on the draft legislation. In February 2021, the government officials working under the energy minister noted that the Queen's solicitors had raised a few concerns over the bill, meaning that the Queen withheld consent on the bill to influence the government into making necessary changes to the bill to favor her current position. The officials also noted in official records that the minister had agreed to make the necessary changes to the bill, after which the Queen formally consented.
• Five days after the Queen formally consented to the bill, the energy minister proposed an amendment to the bill that gave the Queen an absolute exemption from the bill and prohibited companies and public authorities from compelling the queen to sell pieces of her land for the construction of green energy pipelines.
• Lily Humphreys, a researcher in the Scottish Liberal Democrats, found a few archived documents that clearly showcase how the queen exploited the power of Queen's consent to influence state policy for her personal benefit.
• There are several other proven instances of the Queen using the Queen's consent power to influence changes in state laws and policies, including the 1982 bill relating to national monuments' preservation, the land leasing bill from 1975, and the road safety bill from 1968. 
• The Guardian recently unearthed several archived documents from the National Archives about how the Queen lobbied the government into making changes to state policy.

The Queen and Her Undisclosed Wealth

• In November 1973, the Queen, through her private solicitors, lobbied the government to make necessary changes to the transparency bill exempting her from all the transparency measures laid down in the bill.
• The Heath government responded to the Queen's lobbying by preparing a special clause for the bill that would allow the government to exempt certain companies from the requirement of disclosing who their shareholders are and additional important info about them.
• In February 1974, a general election was conducted, as a result of which, all the legislation passed right before the election was deemed unconstitutional and had no effect. Another lobbying attempt was made by the queen to the subsequent labor government of Harold Wilson, which allowed the bill and enacted the law in 1976; the new act was almost the exact copy of the draft bill created by the Heath government.

 

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Prince Charles

• According to another Guardian article, the power of the Queen's consent also gave extended powers to the Prince since he also had prior access to draft bills and had to place formal consent to a bill in the absence of the Queen.
• According to the most recent discovery by the Guardian, Prince Charles exploited a controversial procedure to compel government ministers to secretly change a proposed law to benefit his landed estate; as per the documents uncovered by the Guardian, the Prince, upon receiving the request from the government to consent to the bill
• He wrote that the Queen had no objection to some proposals in the bill. But obtaining consent from the Prince wasn't that easy; in response to the request, the Prince, however, delayed consent and posted, "the queen believes it isn't sensible for the functions of the royal commission to be taken over by the new commission, "it would not, therefore, seem a very good idea to include in the bill a power, by statutory instrument, enabling the functions of the royal commission to be taken over by the new commission at some stage in the future."
• Additionally, the documents found by the Guardian reveal that the Prince wrote a letter to the Major saying (October 1992) that soon he'll be receiving a letter from the government seeking final consent on the bill; however, he has concerns over the bill, which he thought would enable "tenants to buy and redevelop historic properties without preserving their “special character.”
• "The documents found in the National Archives, concerning a leasehold reform act that became law in 1993, provide detailed evidence of Charles applying pressure on elected ministers to ensure an exemption to prevent his own tenants from having the right to buy their own homes."

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• Effects of revolution and decolonization and the growth of global democracy in the last century has brought about a decrease in monarchies. There are currently 44 monarchies in the world. The older monarchies of Europe differed from the ‘New Monarchies’ of the 16th centuries and after, in the demand for great bureaucracies by the organization of standing armies and foreign empires.
• In a constitutional monarchy, the power of the monarch must be used within the boundaries and processes established by a constitution, with powers and duties usually shared between the monarch, a legislative body, and a judiciary, like in Japan. Semi-constitutional, also known as mixed monarchy, allows the monarchs autonomy and independence, with the capacity to exert a large extent of political influence, though their actions are constrained by a constitution. Jordan is considered the most notable example.
• An absolute monarchy is like a dictatorship, in which the ruling power and actions of the absolute monarch is indisputable or unrestricted. Unlike constitutional monarchies, the voice of the people is not considered in the government or the leadership of the nation. An example of absolute monarchies is Saudi Arabia.
•  Federal monarchy is one where the head of state is designated from a federation of states, for instance, in Malaysia. Diarchy is a unique monarchy in which two monarchs rule in tandem. Andorra is the only existing example.

Introduction

An Overview of Modern Monarchies

•  A monarchy is a type of government where the absolute sovereignty is endowed on the head of state known as a monarch (King, Queen, Emperor/Empress, Amir, or Sultan), who maintains the position until abdication or death. From the end of the Roman era until about the 18th century, monarchies were the predominant type of government in European countries.
• Effects of revolution and decolonization and the growth of global democracy in the last century has brought about a decrease in monarchies. A study of the Scandinavian monarchies found that many European monarchies vanished at the end of the WWI or WWII, the ones left continued by being profoundly responsive to public opinion and by setting aside their political power.
• Even though absolute monarchs are much fewer than there used to be and power-splitting between monarchs and elected governments are far more varied, there are still some monarchies around the world. Currently, there are 44 monarchies globally, while there are just 29 monarchs.
• A comprehensive list of the world's monarchy countries can be found here. There are 3 monarchies in Africa, 6 in Oceania, 10 in North America, 12 in Europe, and 13 in Asia. South America has no monarchies.

 

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Different Forms of Monarchies

• The older monarchies of Europe were different from the ‘New Monarchies’ of the 16th centuries and after, in that the organization of standing armies and foreign empires demanded great bureaucracies for better collection and control of taxes, allowing power forecasts higher than those of the old monarchs. Monarchs were usually allowed to govern largely unrestrained and unchallenged — absolutism was at its peak in this era. The various forms of monarchies are:
• Constitutional: Constitutional monarchs are regarded as the ceremonial heads of state with public duties. Many existing monarchies are constitutional, and significant political authority is given to a prime minister or president by a constitution or law. A constitutional monarch does not have unlimited power — their powers must be used within the boundaries and processes established by a constitution. The powers and duties are usually shared between the monarch, a legislative body, and a judiciary, and the voice of the people is heard through a limited electoral process.  
•  Fifteen sovereign countries are “commonwealth realms,” and all are deemed constitutional monarchies in the Commonwealth of Nations, where King Charles III is the head of state in Britain and ruling monarch. Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and Kuwait are examples of some constitutional monarchies where the constitution gives significant unrestricted powers to the monarch. While in Spain, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, the monarch serves primarily ceremonial roles, with little role in the government.
• Semi-constitutional: Also known as mixed monarchy, is a system where there is a legislature with powers, but the monarch holds more authority than in a constitutional monarchy. Although the monarchs are autonomous and sovereign political actors, with the capacity to wield a large amount of political influence, their actions are constrained by a constitution.
• Monaco, Liechtenstein, Kuwait, and Qatar are examples of semi-constitutional monarchies, the most notable being Jordan, where the country is relatively democratic, even though the king exercises a lot of power.
• Absolute: An absolute monarchy is like a dictatorship. The ruling power and actions of the absolute monarch is indisputable or unrestricted by any written law, court, legislature, religion, economic agreement, custom, or electoral procedure. Unlike constitutional monarchies, the voice of the people is not considered in the government or the leadership of the nation. Protests or complaints are counted as acts of treason and punishable by torment and death. Laws are declared by the monarchs and are usually in their own best interest alone.
• Excluding subnational monarchies, at present, there are five absolute monarchies — Eswatini, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Vatican City, with the most famous today being Saudi Arabia.

 

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• Federal: Another form of monarchy in which the head of state is designated from a federation of states. Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates are regarded as federal constitutional monarchies.
• Diarchy: Considered a unique monarchy, the only existing diarchy globally is Andorra, where there are two joint heads of state. The two monarchs consist of two co-princes who govern in tandem — the President of France and the Catholic Bishop of Urgell from Spain. Andorra also employs an ex officio succession system, i.e., the title will go to the next office holders, rather than the children of the current princes.

 

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Research Strategy