An American’s Guide to the British Monarchy
Happy Coronation Day! I spent the last four years living in the UK while earning my Ph.D. Over that time, I had the fascinating opportunity to study British politics up close. I also had the frequent unfortunate experience of having countless conversations with other Americans whose “extensive” knowledge of the Monarchy came exclusively from watching Netflix’s The Crown. The truth is, Americans still have a poor understanding of the role of the monarchy in British government, politics, and culture. So, I thought I would take the opportunity of King Charles III’s coronation to give a simplified explanation of just what it is they are doing over there, or be it, an American’s guide to the British monarchy.
Like most people, Americans don’t care too much about the way governments in other countries function. But the United Kingdom is different. The British Royal Family continues to hold a celebrity-like status in the US and globally. As of late, this has only increased due to Netflix’s hit show and the unending quest of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) to monetize said celebrity status in every way imaginable (please everyone, they just want their privacy). But ask an American what the Monarch actually does, and they respond with the common answers that they are a “figurehead” or a “tourist attraction.”
This perception, however, is deeply inaccurate. While it is true that political power in the United Kingdom has largely transferred to the Prime Minister, the Monarch still exercises a very real and important role in government. It should be noted that this role is not that different and can be seen as more important than the role many presidents play in parliamentary systems across Europe and the world.
So, what is it that the Monarch actually does and what effect does their role have on the British government and nation? Officially, the Monarch fills two different roles, Head of State and Head of Nation. The Monarch’s powers are in theory quite broad, what constrains them are constitutional traditions and the fact that the political powers of the United Kingdom have the authority to abolish a monarchy they feel has forgotten its place.
Head of State
First, let’s look at the Head of State. While the power to make political decisions and drive political policy rests with the Prime Minister, many of the executive duties of the government remain with the Monarch.
In his new role, King Charles III is the Commander-in-Chief of the British armed forces. The Prime Minister will make decisions about how and when those forces are deployed but they will do so via the Monarch who holds the ceremonial authority. Monarchs frequently visit military units for inspections and receive reports from leadership. Male members of the Royal Family are traditionally expected to complete a term of military service. In this case, King Charles served in the Royal Navy from 1971 through 1977 and was assigned to multiple ships over that period and trained as a helicopter pilot. He achieved the rank of Commander before finishing his active duty.
On the legislative side, laws passed by Parliament can only become law once they receive the King’s royal ascent. The transfer of power in the United Kingdom is made official when the Monarch dismisses one Prime Minister or accepts their resignation and invites the selected candidate of the party in power to form a new government in their name. If following an election, no party secures a majority and negotiations fail to produce a coalition government, it falls to the Monarch to select an interim Prime Minister who can lead the country until the impasse is resolved.
Once appointed, all Prime Ministers are expected to meet weekly with the Monarch and report on the government’s business. Tradition demands that the content of those meetings remain private and so it is impossible to say what role the Monarch exactly plays in that capacity, but some former Prime Ministers have suggested it is an active one. Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron insisted that Queen Elizabeth II was actively interested in Scotland remaining in the UK and he credited speeches she gave about unity with swaying the vote that saw Scotland narrowly decide to remain within the Kingdom. The palace subsequently admonished him for his indiscretion and reaffirmed the Queen’s political neutrality. The official position of the monarchy is that the King’s counsel is restrained to “advising and warning” the Prime Minister when necessary.
Besides their dealings with the Prime Minister, the Monarch is also responsible for opening and dissolving Parliament. Parliament meets and derives its authority from the Monarch. Therefore, when a new session of Parliament is convened it is the Monarch who opens the session with their royal authority. Traditionally, the Monarch delivers a speech similar to the State of the Union Address here in the US where they outline the priorities of the party in power at that time. Dissolving Parliament, as is done when new elections are held, is also part of the Monarch’s responsibilities. Indeed, it is considered a “prerogative power” meaning the King or Queen have a right to use the power as they wish. Again, what constrains their use of that power is a sense of tradition and propriety. Famously in September 2019, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised Queen Elizabeth II to dissolve Parliament early in preparation for a new session which she then did. Johnson’s political opponents charged that he was having the Queen dissolve Parliament early to avoid scrutiny of his controversial Brexit plans and they legally challenged the decision leading to a landmark decision by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision reaffirmed “First, the power to order the prorogation of Parliament is a prerogative power: that is to say, a power recognised by the common law and exercised by the Crown, in this instance by the sovereign in person, acting on advice, in accordance with modern constitutional practice.” The decision declined to say that the Queen was “obliged by constitutional convention to accept that advice,” meaning theoretically a future Monarch could refuse such a request from their Prime Minister. Given that the Monarch has absolute authority to make that decision under British law the Supreme Court had no standing to challenge or overturn the Queen’s command and instead found that Boris Johnson had no lawful or good reason for advising the Queen to dissolve Parliament leading to the reversal of the dissolution.
The Monarch also plays a key role in the composition of the government. Acting as in other situations on the advice of the Prime Minister and their government, the Monarch appoints individuals to key government positions including high-ranking judges. Following government recommendations, the Sovereign also selects members of the British nobility to serve in the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament.
The King or Queen plays a key role in the way the UK conducts foreign policy too as royal dinners and visits are a central piece of British strategy. The Washington Post claimed that over her reign Queen Elizabeth II was “Britain’s lead ambassador” and the 2020 Global Soft Power Index from Brand Finances declared the Royal Family, “An unrivalled contributor to the UK’s soft power.” Visits to or from the British Crown are extremely valuable bargaining chips of which Prime Ministers make full use. In March of this year, amid British concerns about wavering European military support for Ukraine, the King made headlines with a foreign visit and toast praising Germany for its role in sustaining the Ukrainian war effort. King Charles also serves as the Monarch of several other countries like Australia and Canada and is the head of the Commonwealth of Nations. In these roles, the Monarch does tend to be much more of a figurehead, but it leaves them well-positioned to conduct foreign relations with countries around the world. The Washington Post’s analysis of royal foreign policy found “ample evidence that the queen’s role as Britain’s head of state was by no means merely symbolic.”
Summarizing the Monarch’s role as Head of State, it can be said that over the course of English and British history, the Monarch has transitioned from the most important politician in the country to the most important bureaucrat, but they are by no means a purely ornamental piece of the government.
Head of the Nation
The second role of the Monarch is less formal but in some cases, it can be more consequential, Head of Nation. The greatest value of a monarchy in the modern day is its ability to unite a politically divided population. With the British monarchical system, the Head of Nation is an individual who hails from no political faction and takes no political side. Instead, they are individuals who personify British tradition, culture, and the constitutional system. Regardless of your political views you can, if you wish, take pride in the monarchy and all for which it stands. Much like the ways Americans interact with the flag or the Declaration of Independence, the British population has a living embodiment of their traditional values. Customarily, British intellectuals have referred to the monarchy and the government as the dignified and efficient branches of the Constitution. In the modern political environment, the monarchy can often be seen as a respite within the government from the vitriol of politics.
Any government leader will make public appearances and visits to help show support for important causes and institutions but those who are actively running a government have precious little time to do so. The Monarch and their family on the other hand can and do dedicate significant amounts of time to conducting official visits to schools, hospitals, charities, construction sites, etc. Their visits are memorialized on plaques across the country by people who see them as great honors. In this way, the Royal Family becomes ambassadors of national pride and gratitude.
Despite their lack of political power, very large portions of the British population still look to the Monarch for leadership. Messages from the Monarch for the general population tend to be highly anticipated and consumed events. King Charles’ first time delivering the annual Christmas message received record ratings. Part of this is due to the Monarch exercising yet another role, Head of the Church of England. In this capacity, the King is both a religious and government figure and is responsible for selecting the Bishops that run the state religion, again on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Monarch is still seen as a stabilizing figure in times of crisis. At the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Queen delivered a hopeful and patriotic message that was watched on TV by 24 million people and countless more through other mediums, this was nearly equal to the number of people who watched Prime Minister Johnson’s primetime announcement of the unprecedented legal restrictions on daily life just a month prior. Her message was the second most watched television broadcast in the UK that year just behind the Prime Minister’s address.
This form of leadership has paid real and very tangible dividends. In a period of global political polarization, instability, and democratic decline, the United Kingdom has proven to be the exception many times over, and many analysts point to the monarchy as the reason why. An apolitical Head of State and Nation has a proven ability to reduce the stakes of politics and counter the conceptualization of political contests as zero-sum games that has led to increasing radicalization and political violence in countries across the world, including the United States. The monarchy has proven incredibly resilient in its popularity. Despite the relative unpopularity of the new King and his Queen-Consort, polling data from last week reveal that nearly 60% of the British population consciously favor the maintenance of the monarchy compared to just 26% of the population that wants to see it replaced by an elected official. The 60% figure is relatively low for the monarchy but it is still remarkably high, you would have to go back 14 years to find the last time a US president had such a high approval rating. Having something in the government to take shared pride in matters politically in a big way.
Conclusion
For the most succinct summary of the modern British monarchy, we can turn to the second verse of the modern version of the national anthem, “God Save the King.” Again, Americans tend to look at the British national anthem as an oddity where a nation of people sings glory to their overlord. In reality, the song is a prayer asking God to bless the country’s leader, something Americans do quite frequently. The second verse in the modern version of the hymn reads:
Thy choicest gifts in store
On him be pleased to pour,
Long may he reign.
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the King.
The British Constitution is not a single written document like it is here in the US. Instead, the term refers to a series of fundamental laws and unwritten traditions that define the way the government functions and the varying branches share power. The Monarch serves not as a political head but as an embodiment of that Constitution, a defender of proper procedure and process as well as traditional British values. In the verse above, the British plead with God not for the indiscriminate good of the King but to give them a competent leader who will defend their laws and give them cause to celebrate their Monarch. The monarchy is not universally beloved or without fault, some even consider it an affront to modern democratic values. But it undeniably matters, it is at the center of the British political system and culture, and it is most certainly not a “tourist attraction.”
