1. The Monarchy

The British Monarchy is hereditary. The King or Queen is the head of state, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the head of the Judiciary in the U.K. and the temporal head of the established Church of England. The Monarchy, as we know it today, began to take shape at the end of the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century. The Constitutional Monarchy started at the end of the 17th century because Parliament then established its rights, whereby power gradually passed into the hands of ministers and a two-party system was developed. Politics was dominated by the Tory （Conservative） and the Whig （Liberal） parties until 1914. Later the new Labor Party took the place of the Liberals.

Since the end of the Second World War the Conservative and Labor parties have been in power by turns. The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, 11th generation of the House of Hanover and the head of state of the country. She came to the throne on Feb. 6th, 1952. Shewas born in 1920 and married her third cousin Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. Now they have four children. Prince Charles, their eldest son, is the heir. According to legislation, the present Queen’s title is “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her Other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of Faith”. This long title no longer suggests any substantial power.

Constitutionally she seems to have great power—every act of the state is done in her name. Every letter sent out by any government department is posted in an envelope marked“on Her Majesty’s¹Service”. All ministers in the Government are appointed by her and every public official is her servant. The Queen summons, prologues and dissolves Parliament. In the new session she makes the opening speech and outlines her government’s program. She concludes treaties and declares war.

She gives her assent to Bills before they become law. She confers peerages and other honors. She seems to have unlimited power. But practically everything she does is done on the advice of her ministers, and everything has been decided in advance by Parliament or the prime minister together with his cabinet. The Queen does it automatically without any alternative. However, this does not mean that the Monarchy is only a useless relic of a bygone age and a tremendous waste of public money.

Most probably its real importance lies in its effect on public attitude, and it is also an unchangeable symbol of the whole nation.

Politicians come and go according to elections won or lost and at any given moment every politician always has many determined opponents among those who do not belong to his own party. But the Monarchy is always there, above party quarrels, representing the nation as a whole, and lending dignity and significance to all things done in her name. This is what the British bourgeoisie try to convince the people. They say that the Monarchy has no bias towards different classes and political parties, so they preserve it, regard it as sacred and give her a high salary, 512 720 000 （1980） a year. The mere fact that the Crown exists helps to conceal the fact of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

The vital power lies in the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. They make the real decisions, lead the departments of the government and manage affairs at home and abroad. They directly control the armed forces, the police and the prisons. They make and carry out all the important decisions. The activities of the Cabinet are always top secret. The Crown is used as a symbol and is described as the representative of the people.

The British Monarchy is the supreme illustration of the way a British institution develops. Violent upheavals are rare. Instead, the existing system is slowly modified to suit fresh conditions, until in the end the impossible situation is achieved—a completely new system which still looks exactly like the old. Although it is illogical, it works in the U.K.

Although the Crown’s main function is limited to the mechanical signing of official documents, it has a definite role in the U. K. The Crown is the only legal and constitutional link binding the members of the Commonwealth to the home country and to one another. In this way it is easier to make her former colonies believe that they are independent and are not in any way bound to the English government or its politicians.

It is said that in Britain itself the basic principle which is held to govern the acts of the Crown and the royal family is that they take no part in politics. However, the King （now the Queen） has various constitutional rights. She reigns but she does no rule. The United Kingdom is governed in the name of the Crown.