The Monarchy of the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Monarchy of Britain The monarchy of the United Kingdom is also referred to as British monarchy. Monarchies in the world are assumed to be unconstitutionally based political entities. Britain monarchy nonetheless is an exceptional one since it is constitutionally based. The Monarchy of Britain was constituted for the United Kingdom and its overseas territories during colonial periods. The overseas territory notion, however, changed with the emergence of sovereign states. These states initially were solely answerable to the queen of England. The monarch’s title is “king” male and “queen” female. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended to power after the death of King George VI on 6th February 1952. King George VI was Queen Elizabeth’s father. This research paper discusses the monarchical political system in Britain. The monarch, inclusive of his or her immediate family members, undertakes many diplomatic, ceremonial, representational and official duties in the Great Britain. The Britain monarchy is limited to non-partisan functions. An example of a non-partisan function to the monarch is bestowing honours and appointing of the prime minister of Britain by the Monarch. The Monarch is traditionally awarded the power of being the Commander-In-Chief of the British armed forces (Cannon, 2008 p111). Royal prerogative, additionally, gives the monarch the power of ultimately executing authority over the government of the United Kingdom. These execution powers accorded the monarch must only be used lawfully in accordance with the enacted statutory laws in British. These laws accordingly are in line with the constraints of convention and precedent. The British monarchy traces its origin back in the Petty Kingdoms. These kingdoms were the early Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Scotland. These two kingdoms ultimately consolidated into the kingdom of Scotland and England by 10th AD (Morris, 2008 p145). Consequently, the need for the management of resources in these kingdoms became necessary. Power and authority degenerated was allocated to the monarchs who seemingly controlled most of the factors of production. Monarch anciently emerged as the powerful individuals in the society ((Kishlansky, 2000 p167). The queen of England, as it presently stands, remains to be the most powerful individual basically due to the respect of tradition. Traditionally, monarchs were accorded paramount respect not only because of their role, but also because of their extremely acquired wisdom in the governance of their subjects (Kishlanzky, 2006 p190). The monarch of British is an ideal one. This monarchy follows constitution to the later and provides a way for people’s representation. In the constitution of British monarchy, the monarch or the otherwise referred to as the sovereign, his or her majesty is the head of State (Long & Nicola 2008, p173). The prime minister, on the other hand, is the head of the government. Oaths of allegiance in the Britain are made to the queen and her lawful successors. The monarchy of Britain is a symbol of unity. This is evident in the national anthem and the monarch’s appearance on the postage stamps, coins and banknotes. The monarch takes little, but direct portion of the Britain government (Loughlin 2007, p100). The lower house and upper houses must always be in close contact with the monarchy even though these houses are not directly answerable to the queen. The overall sovereign powers exercising in Britain are delegated from the monarch. This is done either by a convention or statutes. The ministers, officers of Crown, as well as the public bodies, are exclusively represented in the monarchical policies. The state acts done in the name of Crown such as state opening of parliament and queens speech are not governmental operations constitutionally (Madonagh 2009, p123). These operations are, therefore, dependent on decisions made somewhere else. The sovereign role of the constitution in a monarch, therefore, is conclusively largely limited to non-partisan functions such as granting nobilities (Olechnowicz 2007, p189). The non-partisan role in the monarchy of Britain has been recognised since the 19th Century. Both the monarch and prime minister in Britain concurrently undertake different function. This protocol must be constitutionally observed to the later. Legislative powers are exercised by her majesty. This is undertaken through the advice and consent of the House of Lords, House of Commons and the Parliament. The executive powers exercised by monarchy of Britain must adhere to the following rules; the role must be mandated in composition of ministers, which primarily include the prime minister and his cabinet. This is technically a committee of Privy Council (Pearsall 200g, p141). The Privy Council is directly inclined towards the Queen’s orders thus making it directly answerable to the Queen of Britain. Additional constitutional elements in Britain under the Queen’s docket include Crown servants such as the Secret Services and Diplomatic services. Queen receives certain foreign-based intelligence reports before the prime minister of Britain. This gives the monarchy of Britain additional constitutional powers. The Britain monarchy does not singly work in the implementation of the constitution. This gives the monarchy a provision of the judiciary. The judiciary implements the constitution and ensures a check and balance of the executive and legislature in the monarchy. The Judiciary arm of Britain monarchy has powers vested on it by constitution and statute (Wilkinson 2007, p192). British judiciary is independent from the government hence easily creates check and balance to the Monarchy of Britain. The Church of England of which the Monarch is the head has its own legislative, executive and judicial structures. Lastly, powers independently executed in the Monarchy of Britain are legally granted to other public bodies by either the statutory instruments or the statute. Statutory instruments include Order of Council or Royal Commission. The monarchy in the governance history is the oldest institution of government. The only interruption to monarchy of Britain in history was the republic, which only lasted from 1649-1660 (Harris & Rawcliffe 2009, p164). Today, in Britain, the Queen is not only the Head of State, but also an important symbol of national unity. The queen’s title in Britain is Elizabeth II. By God’s Grace, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Monarchy of Britain yet lives in Realm of dignified territories. In summary, my take on the Monarchy of Britain topic views it as a personal rule. In the contemporary democracies, an equal presentation must be observed. This would only be observed by electing different leadership representations to the people. In monarchies, the leadership is hereditary. This may give rise to autocratic rules especially in cases where the inherent queens or kings are self-centred personalities. The singularity nature of monarchical political systems provides the subjects with a symbolic and focused area for group identity and loyalty. However, singularity nature of monarchical power means that the nation’s power is at the hands of a single individual. The ruler henceforth becomes responsible to for anything that may happen to his or her subjects socially, politically and economically. This attribute of singularity of power in the Britain monarchy beyond doubt gives it an inner view of an autocratic political system. Bibliography Cannon, C. (2008). Middle English literature a cultural history. Cambridge, Polity. Retrieved from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=570112. Mcdonagh, E. L. (2009). The motherless state womens political leadership and American democracy. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from: http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=448566. Morris, M. (2008). The British monarchy and the French Revolution. New Haven [u.a.], Yale Univ. Press Kishlansky, M. A. (2000). A monarchy transformed: Britain 1603-1714. London, Allen Lane. Kishlansky, M. A. (2006). A monarchy transformed: Britain, 1603-1714. London, Allen Lane. Long, Phil, and Nicola J. Palmer. Royal Tourism: Excursions Around Monarchy. Clevedon: Channel View Publications, 2008. Print. Loughlin, J. (2007). The British monarchy and Ireland: 1800 to present. Cambridge, Cambridge university press. Olechnowicz, A. (2007). The monarchy and the British nation, 1780 to the present. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Pearsall, R. (2006). Kings & queens: a history of British monarchy. New York, Todtri Productions. Wilkinson, P. (2007). The British Monarchy For Dummies. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from: http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=20464. Harris, N., & Rawcliffe, J. M. (2009). Monarchy. London, Evans. Read More