The constitution. The Monarchy in Great Britain. The value of Monarcy. The Windsors

Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch — Queen Elisabeth II as a head of state.

The British constitution, isn`t set out in a single document. Instead it is made up of a combination of laws and conventions.

A thousand years ago the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted the Great Council before taking important decisions. Between 1066 and 1215 the king ruled alone, but in 1215 the nobles forced king John to accept Magna Carta, which took away some of the king`s powers. In later centuries this was seen as the 1st occasion on which the king was forced to take advice. In 1264 the 1st parliament of nobles met together. Since then the British constitution has grown up slowly as the result of countless Acts of parliament.

Then, parliament invited William and Mary to become Britain`s 1st constitutional monarchs. A constitutional monarch is one who can rule only with the support of parliamentary. The Bill of Rights was the 1st legal step towards constitutional monarchy. This Bill prevented the monarch from making laws or having an army without Parliament`s approval. Since 1689 the power of parliament has grown, while the power of the monarch has become weaker.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy: the head of the state is a king or a queen. In practice, the Sovereign reigns, but doesn`t rule. The present Sovereign is Queen Elisabeth II. Today the Queen isn`t only head of state, but also an important symbol of national unity. In law the Queen is head of the executive, head of the judiciary, the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown and the established Church of England. The monarchy`s absolute power has been progressively reduced, the Queen is impartial and acts on the advise of her ministers.

The Queen and the Royal family continue to take part in many traditional ceremonies. Their visits to different parts of Britain and to many other countries attract considerable interests and publicity. The proceedings of both Houses of Parliament are broadcast on television and radio.

General elections to choose Members of Parliament must be held at least every five years. Today every man and woman aged 18 has the right to vote. The Government is formed by the party with majority support in the Commons. The party in power determines the home and foreign policy of the country.

The Queen appoints its leader as Prime Minister. As head of the Government the Prime Minister appoints about 100 ministers, of whom about 20 are in the Cabinet — the serious group which takes major policy decisions. Ministers are collectively responsible for their own departments. The second largest — party forms the official oppositions with its own leader and «shadow cabinet». The opposition has a duty to challenge government policies and to present an alternative programme.

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The House of Windsor is the current Royal House of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and each of the other Commonwealth realms. The older part is a branch of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line of the House of Wettin, while the newer part is a branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line of the House of Oldenburg.

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, son of Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Therefore her descendants are members of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with the house name of Wettin. Victoria's son Edward VII and his son George V reigned as members of this house. But during World War I there was a lot of hatred of anything German. A lot of this feeling was stirred up by newspapers. People with German names were beaten up, and shops with German names had their windows broken. Even the Royal Family were accused of supporting Germany. On 17 July 1917 George V ordered the Royal Family to give up their German titles, and change German-sounding titles and house names for English-sounding versions. Prince Louis Battenberg became Lord Louis Mountbatten. The Duke of Teck became the Marquis of Milford Haven and the name of the royal house, and the royal surname was changed to Windsor, after the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle.

When he heard about the change of name, German Emperor William II joked that he wanted to see Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

In April 1952, Queen Elizabeth II said that her descendants will keep name and House of Windsor, the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg through their father, born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a line of the House of Oldenburg.

On 8 February 1960, the Queen decided instead to keep the House and Family of Windsor but that their personal surname is "Mountbatten-Windsor". Mountbatten is the surname adopted by Prince Philip before his marriage, an anglicization of his mother's family name of Battenberg.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 2258