BRITISH MONARCHY AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

The Institute of Ecology, Linguistics and Low

Degree work

«BRITISH MONARCHY

AND ITS INFLUENCE

UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS»

Dunaeva Nina

Moscow, 2003

Contents

Part One

INTRODUCTION

The United kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland 4

Direct meaning of the word «monarchy» 6

The British constitutional monarchy 7

Part Two

HISTORY OF THE MONARCHY

Kings and Queens of England 9

The Anglo-Saxon Kings 9

The Normans 23

The Angevins 30

The Plantagenets 33

The Lancastrians 42

The Yorkists 46

The Tudors 48

The Stuarts 58

The Commonwealth Interregnum 63

The Hanoverians 75

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 85

The House of Windsor 87

Part Three

THE MONARCHY TODAY

The Queen’s role 91

Queen’s role in the modern State 91

Queen and Commonwealth 91

Royal visits 92

The Queen’s working day 92

Ceremonies and pageantry 92

The Queen’s ceremonial duties 93

Royal pageantry and traditions 93

Royal succession 93

The Royal Household 93

Royal Household departments 94

Recruitment 94

Anniversaries 95

Royal finances 95

Head of State expenditure 2000-01 95

Sources of funding 96

Financial arrangements of The Prince of Wales 96

Finances of the other members of the Royal Family 96

Taxation 97

Royal assets 97

Symbols 98

National anthem 98

Royal Warrants 99

Bank notes and coinage 100

Stamps 102

Coats of Arms 103

Great Seal 104

Flags 105

Crowns and jewels 105

Transport 105

Cars 106

Carriages 107

The Royal Train 108

Royal air travel 109

Part Four

THE ROYAL FAMILY

Members of the Royal Family 111

HM The Queen 111

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 111

HRH The Prince of Wales and family 112

HRH The Duke of York 112

TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex 112

HRH Princess Royal 112

HRH Princess Alice 113

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester 113

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent 113

TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent 114

HRH Princess Alexandra 114

Memorial Plaque

HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 115

HRH The Princess Margaret 115

Diana, Princess of Wales 115

Part Five

ART AND RESIDENCES

The Royal Collection 116

About the Royal Collection 116

The Royal Collection Trust 117

Royal Collection Enterprises 117

Publishing 118

Royal Residences 118

Royal Collection Galleries 118

Loans 119

The Royal Residences 119

About the Royal Residences 119

Buckingham Palace 120

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace 120

The Royal Mews 121

Windsor Castle 121

Frogmore 122

The Palace of Holyroodhouse 122

Balmoral Castle 123

Sandringham House 123

St James’s Palace 124

Kensington Palace 124

Historic residences 124

Bibliography 126

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

[pic]

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Government: The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and

parliamentary democracy, with a queen and a Parliament that has two houses:

the House of Lords, with 574 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, 26 bishops,

and the House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Supreme

legislative power is vested in Parliament, which sits for five years unless

sooner dissolved. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in

1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. In Nov. 1999

hundreds of hereditary peers were expelled in an effort to make the body

more democratic. The executive power of the Crown is exercised by the

cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

Prime Minister: Tony Blair (1997)

Area: 94,525 sq mi (244,820 sq km)

Population (2003 est.): 60,094,648 (growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate:

11.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.3/1000; density per sq mi: 636

Capital and largest city (2000 est.): London, 11,800,000 (metro. area)

Other large cities: Birmingham, 1,009,100; Leeds, 721,800; Glasgow,

681,470; Liverpool, 479,000; Bradford, 477,500; Edinburgh, 441,620;

Manchester, 434,600; Bristol, 396,600

Monetary unit: Pound sterling (Ј)

Languages: English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic

Ethnicity/race: English 81.5%; Scottish 9.6%; Irish 2.4%; Welsh 1.9%;

Ulster 1.8%; West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Church of England (established church), Church of Wales

(disestablished), Church of Scotland (established church—Presbyterian),

Church of Ireland (disestablished), Roman Catholic, Methodist,

Congregational, Baptist, Jewish

Literacy rate: 99% (1978)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2000 est.): $1.36 trillion; per capita $22,800.

Real growth rate: 3%. Inflation: 2.4%. Unemployment: 5.5%. Arable land:

25%. Agriculture: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep,

poultry; fish. Labor force: 29.2 million (1999); agriculture 1%, industry

19%, services 80% (1996 est.). Industries: machine tools, electric power

equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding,

aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications

equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products,

food processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods. Natural

resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt,

clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land. Exports: $282 billion

(f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages,

tobacco. Imports: $324 billion (f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods,

machinery, fuels; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: EU, U.S., Japan.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 34.878 million (1997);

mobile cellular: 13 million (yearend 1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM

219, FM 431, shortwave 3 (1998). Radios: 84.5 million (1997). Television

broadcast stations: 228 (plus 3,523 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 30.5

million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 245 (2000). Internet

users: 19.47 million (2000).

Transportation: Railways: total: 16,878 km (1996). Highways: total: 371,603

km; paved: 371,603 km (including 3,303 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km

(1998 est.). Waterways: 3,200 km. Ports and harbors: Aberdeen, Belfast,

Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull,

Leith, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth,

Scapa Flow, Southampton, Sullom Voe, Tees, Tyne. Airports: 489 (2000 est.).

International disputes: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland (historic peace

agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue with Spain; Argentina

claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); Argentina claims South Georgia

and the South Sandwich Islands; Mauritius and the Seychelles claim Chagos

Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory); Rockall

continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial claim

in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and

partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland, Denmark, and

Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM.

DIRECT MEANING OF THE WORD «MONARCHY»

Monarchy, form of government in which sovereignty is vested in a single

person whose right to rule is generally hereditary and who is empowered to

remain in office for life. The power of this sovereign may vary from the

absolute to that strongly limited by custom or constitution. Monarchy has

existed since the earliest history of humankind and was often established

during periods of external threat or internal crisis because it provided a

more efficient focus of power than aristocracy or democracy, which tended

to diffuse power. Most monarchies appear to have been elective originally,

but dynasties early became customary. In primitive times, divine descent of

the monarch was often claimed. Deification was general in ancient Egypt,

the Middle East, and Asia, and it was also practiced during certain periods

in ancient Greece and Rome. A more moderate belief arose in Christian

Europe in the Middle Ages; it stated that the monarch was the appointed

agent of divine will. This was symbolized by the coronation of the king by

a bishop or the pope, as in the Holy Roman Empire. Although theoretically

at the apex of feudal power, the medieval monarchs were in fact weak and

dependent upon the nobility for much of their power. During the Renaissance

and after, there emerged “new monarchs” who broke the power of the nobility

and centralized the state under their own rigid rule. Notable examples are

Henry VII and Henry VIII of England and Louis XIV of France. The 16th and

17th cent. mark the height of absolute monarchy, which found its

theoretical justification in the doctrine of divine right. However, even

the powerful monarchs of the 17th cent. were somewhat limited by custom and

constitution as well as by the delegation of powers to strong

bureaucracies. Such limitations were also felt by the “benevolent despots”

of the 18th cent. Changes in intellectual climate, in the demands made upon

government in a secular and commercially expanding society, and in the

social structure, as the bourgeoisie became increasingly powerful,

eventually weakened the institution of monarchy in Europe. The Glorious

Revolution in England (1688) and the French Revolution (1789) were

important landmarks in the decline and limitation of monarchical power.

Throughout the 19th cent. Royal power was increasingly reduced by

constitutional provisions and parliamentary incursions. In the 20th cent.,

monarchs have generally become symbols of national unity, while real power

has been transferred to constitutional assemblies. Over the past 200 years

democratic self-government has been established and extended to such an

extent that a true functioning monarchy is a rare occurrence in both East

and West. Among the few remaining are Brunei, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.

Notable constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain,

Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Thailand.

Constitutional monarchy: System of government in which a monarch has

agreed to share power with a constitutionally organized government. The

monarch may remain the de facto head of state or may be a purely ceremonial

head. The constitution allocates the rest of the government's power to the

legislature and judiciary. Britain became a constitutional monarchy under

the Whigs; other constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Cambodia,

Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand.

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

"The British Constitutional Monarchy was the consequence of the Glorious

Revolution of 1688, and was enshrined in the Bill of Rights of 1689.

Whereby William and Mary in accepting the throne, had to consent to govern

'according to the statutes in parliament on."

A monarch does not have to curry favour for votes from any section of

the community.

A monarch is almost invariably more popular than an Executive President,

who can be elected by less than 50% of the electorate and may therefore

represent less than half the people. In the 1995 French presidential

election the future President Chirac was not the nation's choice in the

first round of voting. In Britain, governments are formed on the basis of

parliamentary seats won. In the 1992 General Election the Conservative

Prime Minister took the office with only 43% of votes cast in England,

Scotland and Wales. The Queen however, as hereditary Head of State, remains

the representative of the whole nation.

Elected presidents are concerned more with their own political futures

and power, and as we have seen (in Brazil for example), may use their

temporary tenure to enrich themselves. Monarchs are not subject to the

influences which corrupt short-term presidents. A monarch looks back on

centuries of history and forward to the well being of the entire nation

under his/her heir. Elected presidents in their nature devote much energy

to undoing the achievements of their forebears in order to strengthen the

position of their successors.

A long reigning monarch can put enormous experience at the disposal of

transient political leaders. Since succeeding her father in 1952 Queen

Elizabeth has had a number of Prime Ministers, the latest of whom were not

even in Parliament at the time of her accession. An experienced monarch can

act as a brake on over ambitious or misguided politicians, and encorage

others who are less confident. The reality is often the converse of the

theory: the monarch is frequently the Prime Minister's best adviser.

Monarchs, particularly those in Europe are part of an extended Royal

Family, facilitating links between their nations. As Burke observed,

nations touch at their summits. A recent example of this was the attendance

of so many members of Royal Families at the 50th birthday celebrations for

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustav. Swedish newspapers reported that this this

was a much better indication of their closeness to the rest of Europe than

any number of treaties, protocols or directives from the European Union.

A monarch is trained from Birth for the position of Head of State and

even where, as after the abdication of Edward VIII, a younger brother

succeeds, he too has enormous experience of his country, its people and its

government. The people know who will succeed, and this certainly gives a

nation invaluable continuity and stability. This also explains why it is

rare for an unsuitable person to become King. There are no expensive

elections as in the US where, as one pro-Monarchist American says, "we have

to elect a new ' Royal Family' every four years." In the French system the

President may be a member of one party, while the Prime Minister is from

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