British Monarchy and its influence upon governmental institutions

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

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 (£)

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.

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