The Monarchy of the United Kingdom

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The Monarchy of the United Kingdom
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland
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• We can wonder, that in the modern world of XXI
  century, with many social changes and rapid
  development of science, with the expansion of
  democratic European Community, with travels to
  the cosmos space and in period of technological
  revolutions, is still existing such old and
  traditional institution monarchy.
• Modernity and tradition in Great Britain are
  cooperating well. London is witness of these
  cohabitation.

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Modern London
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Modernity and tradition in London
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The Queen

• In Great Britain, Monarchy is the oldest form
  of government, which appeared in year 829, when
  king Egbert was consolidating England.
• The present monarch, 83 years old Elizabeth II,
  has reigned since 1952, at the age of 25. The
  Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of
  Edinburgh and has four children and eight
  grandchildren .

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Her Majesty Elisabeth II
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• The Queen is Head of State in the United
  Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms. The
  Queen is Head of the Armed Forces.
• The Sovereign must be protestant. Only
  individuals who are protestants may inherit the
  Crown. Catholics are prohibited from succeeding.
  Upon the death of the Sovereign, his or her heir
  immediately and automatically succeeds (hence the
  phrase
• The King is dead. Long live the King!")
• The Queen must remain politically neutral. Her
  Majesty and her family never vote or stand for
  election to any position, political or otherwise.
  This enables them to provide continuity and focus
  for national unity.

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The British monarchy

• The British monarchy is a constitutional
  monarchy. This means that, while The Sovereign is
  Head of State, the ability to make and pass
  legislation resides with an elected Parliament.
  The monarch may express his or her views, but, as
  a constitutional ruler, must ultimately accept
  the decisions of the Prime Minister and the
  Cabinet.
• But The Queen does have important ceremonial
  and formal roles in relation to the Government of
  the UK.
• The formal phrase 'Queen in Parliament' is used
  to describe the British legislature, which
  consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and
  the House of Commons. The Queen's duties include
  opening each new session of Parliament,
  dissolving Parliament before a general election,
  and approving Orders and Proclamations through
  the Privy Council.The Queen also has a close
  relationship with the Prime Minister, retaining
  the right to appoint and meet with him or her on
  a regular basis.
• In addition to playing a specific role in the
  UK Parliament based in London, The Queen has
  formal roles with relation to the devolved
  assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern
  Ireland.

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• The Queen has many different official, ceremonial
  and representational duties every day. Some are
  public duties, such as ceremonies, receptions and
  visits within the United Kingdom or abroad.
• The Monarch has a less formal role as 'Head of
  Nation'. The Sovereign acts as a focus for
  national identity, unity and pride gives a sense
  of stability and continuity officially
  recognises success and excellence and supports
  the ideal of voluntary service.
• In all these roles The Sovereign is supported by
  members of their immediate family.
• The monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, and
  banknotes.

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Buckingham Palace

• The Sovereign's official residence in London is
  Buckingham Palace. Another official residence is
  Windsor Palace. Even when The Queen is away from
  London, in residence at Balmoral or Sandringham,
  she receives official papers nearly every day and
  remains fully briefed on matters affecting her
  realms.
• Throughout the centuries, Britain's kings and
  queens have built or bought palaces to serve as
  family homes, workplaces and as centres of
  government. Some of these are still being used
  today as official Royal residences and many can
  be visited by the general public. Buckingham
  Palace has served as the official London
  residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837 and
  today is the administrative headquarters of the
  Monarch. Although in use for the many official
  events and receptions held by The Queen, the
  State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to
  visitors every year.

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• Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19
  State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188
  staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In
  measurements, the building is 108 metres long
  across the front, 120 metres deep (including the
  central quadrangle) and 24 metres high.
• At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the
  Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in
  Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a
  ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War.

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The Royal Household

• The Royal Household aims to provide exceptional
  support and advice to The Queen, enabling her to
  serve the nation and its people. It employs
  approximately 1,200 staff across a wide range of
  professions, including catering, housekeeping,
  accountancy, secretarial, media relations, human
  resources, art curatorship and strategic
  plannings.

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The Lord Chamberlain is the senior official of
the Royal Household
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• His role is to oversee the conduct and general
  business of the Royal Household and to be a
  source and focal point for important matters
  which have implications for the Household as a
  whole. His role is non-executive and the post is
  part-time.
• The Lord Chamberlains Office is responsible for
  organising those elements of The Queen's
  programme that involve ceremonial activity.
• Despite its name, the Lord Chamberlains Office
  is as independent of the Lord Chamberlain as the
  other Departments. It is headed by the
  Comptroller.

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Queen and charities

• An important part of the work of The Queen is to
  support and encourage public and voluntary
  service.
• One of the ways in which Her Majesty does this is
  through involvement with charities and other
  organisations. The Queen has over 600 patronages.
  
• These cover every area of the charity and
  voluntary sector, from opportunities for young
  people, to preservation of wildlife and the
  environment.
• Involvement with these organisations helps to
  recognise their achievements, and helps to
  recognise the contributions of many different
  sectors of public life.

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The Queen wealth

• The Queen wealth is estimated at 650 million in
  2008. Much of the sovereign's official expenses
  are financed from public funds. Its why some
  people would like to make reform and reduce costs
  of queen family. But today the Queen and family
  knows about, and they say .... that cost is only
  0,66 pound per person!
• At the end of the 70' England was going through a
  tough economic crisis under government of prime
  minister Mrs Thatcher (1979) . The painful social
  situation generated violent political opponents,
  expressed in the birth of some cultural phenomena
  like punk (meaning no value)

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• The most famous representative musical band was
  the Sex Pistols . In 1977 , they wrote a worlwide
  succes "God save the queen" , (the British
  national anthem) a contreversial vision of the
  british monarchy .
• But most of people keep on liking monarchy as
  symbol of unit of Great Britain, whatever the
  lack of aristocratic behavior of its members
  today in regard to centuries of reign without
  weakness
• Because Great Britain is a multi-cultural,
  multi-faith society, made up of Christians,
  Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs and people of other
  faiths, we can say, that all people of this mixed
  society have common Quinn Elisabeth II.

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