The Monarch, the Prime Minister and the Parliament
Nowadays, it is not really the Queen by herself who leads the country. To help her, there are all the ministers, the government and all the people of the parliament. She reigns but does not govern, and her symbolic role is reduced to be consulted, to encourage and to warn. The prime minister governs. Since June the 11th 2011, David Cameron holds this post. He chooses the members of the government. The Queen appoints the Prime Minister but he is simply the leader of party which has just won the parliamentary elections. So, indirectly, it is the electors who elect their Prime Minster. It was under the reign of the Queen Victoria, the longest of the Monarchy's history, that the Prime Minister gained in importance to the monarch. The Queen also opens each year the parliamentary election with her speech from the throne, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session. But this speech was beforehand written by the Prime Minister himself. The Queen has the power to dissolve the Parliament but once again, she does that after the request of the Prime Minister. The Queen has also the power to name the ministers and reward some members of her kingdom a title or a decoration but once more, she does this after the recommendation of the Prime Minister, with a few exceptions... The Queen can also, under the advice of a minister, forgive some convicted persons, it is called the Royal Pardon. She cannot be suing by a criminal court or by a civil court and until 1998, a person could be sentenced to death for treason against the Crown. The Queen can give her opinion and dispense advice to the government but only in private, during the regular interview with the Prime Minister. This tradition continues and nobody knows what is said during this weekly one-on-one audience in the office of the Queen. She never talks about her Prime Ministers and they never talk about her. Yet we know from what former prime ministers have intimated that she makes each one feel they have a confidante in her; more than that, they have the ear of the Queen in a way that none of their predecessors ever had. We know Margaret Thatcher did not listen to the Queen’s advice, who disapproved of the politics of the “Iron Lady”. Elizabeth II has known twelve Prime Minister since the beginning of her reign. She is informed of all the decision taking by the government. James Callaghan, her second prime minister, said of her: "There is friendliness but not friendship."
So, in the United Kingdom, it is the government under the supervision of the Prime Minister, which possesses the real executive power.
So, in the United Kingdom, it is the government under the supervision of the Prime Minister, which possesses the real executive power.
The Queen has not had the same relationship with her twelve Prime Ministers who are Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Sir Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
William Churchill was the first one. Churchill was a formidable presence for the young Queen. Churchill told the Queen he could advise her from a lifetime of experience. Some say that Winston Churchill was her favorite Prime Minister. She has admitted to finding him fascinating and that she learned a great deal from him. The first Prime Minister younger than the Queen was John Major. Tony Blair and David Cameron were not even born when she acceded to the throne. Cameron is also the youngest of the Queen's Prime Ministers. His most important dealing with the Queen is one of the most significant in a thousand years of monarchy: he proposed a change in the law regarding primogeniture, which will enable any future first-born child, daughter or son, to become Queen before any younger brothers, a change agreed by the Queen, the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth Prime Ministers. The evolution of a modern monarchy continues.
The parliament of the United Kingdom is bicameral, a two-chamber lawmaking system, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. They sit at the palace of Westminster, in London. The Queen has a major role in the Parliament: the text of laws voted by the Parliament takes effect when she signs her “Royal Assent”. Therefore, she can freeze a law but no monarch has used this power since the reign of Queen Anne, on 1707. Since the beginning of her reign, the Queen has given Royal Assent to 3135 Acts of Parliament. Moreover, the Queen is at the head of the Church of England and defender of the faith, since the reform decided by Henry VIII, on 1536.
Most of all, the Queen has a moral authority on the population. But step by step, she leaves her commitments and her part of her power to her son, Prince Charles, heir apparent. In January 2014, Buckingham Palace said the communications services of the Queen and Charles are going to merge. The Queen has always said that she will never abdicate, because it is against the British tradition, but she prepares a gentle transition. Indeed, in 2013, it was the first time her son Charles came with her to Parliament for her annual speech. She announced she has stopped travelling. William and Catherine are also going to have Royal responsibilities and they will attend a lot of official ceremonies. The succession is therefore being organized in the ranks of the British royalty.