The monarchy

By far the strangest feature is the role of the monarch. The Queen appears on paper to have tremendous power, but in fact has hardly any at all. The country is a kingdom, the government is Her Majesty’s Government, laws are made by the Queen in Parliament, criminals are tried in the name of the Queen, and the Queen is the head of state. She dissolves the Parliament before an election and she appoints the new Prim Minister (PM); she has a business meeting with the PM once a week, usually on Tuesdays; at the annual State Opening of Parliament she makes the Queen’s Speech, which outlines the government’s plans. She is the head on the Commonwealth (which includes 51 countries and a quarter of the world’s population), and she is actually Head of State in 16 countries including Canada, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica. All this seems to add up to a dominant role within the system. But it does not: the key word here is symbolic.

The American President is both head of the government and head of state. this is also the case in France and in Russia, while in most countries around the world these two roles are separate. The all-but-powerless, ceremonial head of state is most commonly a president, but in a few places such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK, the job is done by a king or queen. Queen Elizabeth signs all laws that are presented to her, she can not pick and choose. She appoints the leader of the majority party as Prime Minister, automatically. The Queen’s Speech is in fact written for her by the government. Any power she may have is strictly personal: if PMs respect her opinion on something, they will her advice. Constitutionally, she has the right only, “to be consulted, to encourage, and to warn”.