Political system of the UK: The British Monarchy

1.

POLITICAL
SYSTEM OF THE
UK:THE BRITISH
MONARCHY

2.

THE WINDSOR FAMILY
Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland.
Edward was born on November 9, 1841 in London, the eldest
son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Having become the Prince of Wales, he was educated at home;
briefly studied at Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge.
In 1855 he made the first of his many visits to Paris, in 1860
he visited Canada and the USA, and in 1862 he traveled to the
Holy Land and the Mediterranean.

3.

George V, King of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
from May 6, 1910 until his death.
Second son of the Prince and Princess of
Wales.

4.

Edward VIII, King of Great Britain, Ireland
and the British Overseas Dominions,
Emperor of India for 10 months: from
January 20 to December 11, 1936; was not
crowned.
He abdicated to marry the divorced Wallis
Simpson, which the British government did
not agree to.

5.

George VI, King of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the
Dominions of the British Commonwealth from
11 December 1936 until his death on 6
February 1952.
Known primarily as a symbol of the struggle of
Great Britain and the countries of the British
Empire against Nazi Germany in World War II.

6.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and
the Commonwealth Realms from the Windsor dynasty,
Supreme Commander of the British Armed Forces, Supreme
Ruler of the Church of England, head of the Commonwealth
of Nations from February 6, 1952 until his death on September
8, 2022.
At the time of her death, she was the monarch in fourteen
independent states in addition to Great Britain: Australia,
Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Canada,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia , Solomon Islands,
Tuvalu, Jamaica; during her life she was the queen of 17 more
states, which subsequently abandoned the monarchy.

7.

Charles III, reigning king of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth
realms from the Windsor dynasty.
He was the longest-serving heir to the throne
and Prince of Wales, and on the death of his
mother, Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022,
became the oldest person to ascend the British
throne at 73.

8.

THE MONARCHY
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy.
The Queen is an important symbol of national unity.
In law she is: head of the executive; an integral part of the legislature; head of the
judiciary; commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown; the ‘supreme
governor’ of the established Church of England.

9.

The Queen takes part in some important acts of Government. She
summons the Parliament; Prorogues (назначить перерыв в работе) it –
which means stops the Parliament meeting without ending the session;
dissolves the Parliament; gives her Royal Assent to Bills passed by
Parliament and the Scottish Parliament; pardons people convicted of
crimes; confers peerages, knighthoods and other honors.

10.

Annual ceremonies and daily routine:
The New Year - the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in residence at Sandringham.
The Easter break is at Windsor Castle. It is preceded by giving out “Maundy coins” and by “Maundy”
Service. Maundy Thursday is observed during Holy Week on the Thursday before Easter.
Each June, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family attend the Trooping the Color ceremony
on Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall in London.
Swan Upping is the annual census of the swan population on the Thames.
State Opening of Parliament. The events marking Remembrance Weekend at the Royal Albert Hall.
The Remembrance Day ceremony is held on the 2nd Sunday in November at the Cenotaph.

11.

RULES OF THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE
The succession to the throne is regulated not only by inheritance, but also by a parliamentary statute.
The order of succession is the sequence of members of the royal family in the order in which they are in line for
the throne.
The basis of succession was defined in seventeenth-century constitutional changes, culminating in the Bill of
Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701).
The Sovereign rules through Parliament, the succession to the throne can be regulated by Parliament. A sovereign
can be stripped of his title due to mismanagement.
Parliament set various conditions to which the Sovereign must comply.

12.

The highest order of chivalry in Great Britain. found among the
oldest orders in the world. In total, the charter for the knightly order
of the Garter cannot be more than 24 people, the royal monarch, the
royal prince, the royal family and foreign monarchs.

13.

The Order of the
Garter was first
instituted by King
Edward III in 1348.
From the time the
order was established,
and for almost two
centuries thereafter, the
sovereign and the
Knights of the Garter
met annually for three
days at Windsor Castle
and, in particular, at St
George's Chapel.

14.

Knights of the Order of the Garter are
members of the royal family: Princess Anne,
Prince William. From foreign monarchs, the
order was awarded to King Harald V of
Norway, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark,
King Philip VI of Spain, and former Emperor
of Japan Akihito.
In 2005, former British Prime Ministers
Edward Heath, Baroness Thatcher and John
Major, as well as Baroness Soames, the
daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, were
among the knights of the order. In 2022, Tony
Blair was also knighted in the order.

15.

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION
• Statute of Westminster – the Act of Parliament of 1931. It regulated the
relations between the UK and its dominions.
• It confirmed full sovereignty of the former British colonies.

16.

COMMON LAW (общее право) is guided by the motto "WHAT IS NOT PROVED
DIRECTLY FORBIDDEN IS ALLOWED".
IT IS BASED ON PRECEDENT, can be changed BY CONSTANT PROCESS OF
INTERPRETATION.
In England Common Law is law which has developed from old customs and from
past decisions made by judges.
It is not created by Parliament.

17.

• It was established by Alfred the Great (AD 871- 899)
• Common Law has been developed by the British people for more than a 1000 years.
• It is common because it applies to everyone equally.
• Common Law is grounded in the Ten Commandments (заповеди) and the Golden
Rule - treat others as you would be treated

18.

CONVENTIONS - unwritten laws they regulate the relations between
different levels of the society from top to bottom (between Monarchy and
Parliament, Monarchy and Government, Parliament and Government and
so on.
MANY TRADITIONAL CEREMONIES = CONVENTIONS TOO.