In fact, for almost two decades now
the monarchy has regularly had polls run and focus groups put together to keep
track of how the general public feels about them and their various
actions. They also have on payroll individuals whose job it is to ensure the
Queen stays in the public eye and in a way that is most likely to endear her to
her subjects- as with politicians who rely on the voting public, with each
public change she presents, right down to carrying a cell phone or not,
carefully calculated in terms of the impact it might have.
While this may seem
only self-serving, the Queen has a very lengthy track record as an admirable
public servant and is also acutely aware that she is a prominent public face
representing her subjects, so is keen on avoiding being viewed in a bad light
lest she in turn paint them in a bad light by her actions. As she noted at the
tender age of 21 in a speech to the Commonwealth she gave on her birthday,
I declare before you
all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your
service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.
Surprisingly,
for many years the full extent of exactly what powers the Queen handed off to
the government, but technically retained, weren’t publicly known. That is,
until 2003, when the government released a partial list of the things it can do
on the Queen’s behalf.
For
the most part, the list confirmed that the government could do things to save
the Queen time, such as issue or revoke passports which simply wouldn’t be a
feasible thing to be the sole prerogative of the Crown in a modern society.
However, many things were quite worrying to some, such as her ability to
declare war, which under the rules of Royal Prerogative can be done without
consulting parliament.
On
top of that, the Queen is totally immune from prosecution and is considered
above the law in the UK. And as a head of state, she enjoys diplomatic immunity
in any foreign country she happens to visit. As such, she could commit any
crime conceivable anywhere on Earth and, at least as the law currently stands,
suffer no consequence for doing so. However, as with everything, she’s
generally exceptionally careful to ensure she doesn’t break any laws.
Of
course, what she does in private is completely her own affair, despite her
prominent political position, as she is exempt from Freedom of Information
requests.
Moving
on- because technically speaking “the people of Britain are not citizens, but
subjects of the monarch” she could have anyone she wanted arrested and
presumably seize their property or land for the crown.
Speaking
of which, the Queen owns all of the sea beds around the UK and can commandeer
any ship found in British waters “for service to the realm”. Oddly enough, she
also has first dibs on any whales that wash up on shore. The Queen could
also administer any manner of punishment to an individual who offended or
otherwise displeased her as the crown has “prerogative power to keep the peace
within the realm”. And since she’s immune from prosecution, nobody could really
do anything if this punishment wasn’t entirely within the scope of the law.
If
the government tried to stop her, the Queen could decimate the British
political landscape by dissolving parliament and appointing anyone she felt
like as prime minister. This is because it’s the Queen’s duty to appoint the
prime minister and she could, in theory appoint anyone she wanted to the
position, regardless of the way the British public voted in an election.
On
top of that, in the event the Queen didn’t like the outcome of an election, for
instance if she didn’t like the replacement parliament members voted in, she
could just call for another one using Royal Prerogative until she got the
parliament she wanted. Not that she’d need to, because she could just bring in
the army to keep everyone in line if she so chose.
How? Well, the Queen
is also the Commander-in-Chief of the entire British military with every
officer, soldier, sailor and pilot swearing allegiance to the Crown and nobody else. They’re not called Her Majesty’s Armed Forces for nothing. Noted as
being the “ultimate authority” on all British military matters, the Queen could
authorise a nuclear strike on France or make North Korea an ally as she has the
power to declare both war and peace with foreign nations.
As for laws, while
technically the Queen can’t create new laws, as she can only sign them into law
after they’re decided upon by parliament (in fact, her Royal Assent is required to make the law official after being
passed by parliament in the first place), she could appoint ministers who’d
make any laws she wanted a reality and then just sign them into law that way.
Beyond Royal Assent,
there’s also the Queen’s consent, which requires she give her consent before any law that affects the interests of
the monarchy can even be discussed at all in parliament. (She actually has used
this power before, such as in 1999 when she refused to allow the discussion of
a bill that would have given parliament power to authorize military strikes in
Iraq, instead of needing her authorization.)
So
that’s on the political side- it doesn’t stop here. The Queen technically has a
sort of power not only over her subjects’ physical beings, but also their
souls. How? She’s the head of the Church of England, including having the
power to appoint Archbishops and power over many other such matters concerning
the church.
As
for most of these powers that technically allow her to rule with an iron fist,
as previously mentioned, the Queen is hesitant to ever use them in such a way
that would displease her subjects and certainly isn’t about to disregard their
representatives in parliament. However, these powers still exist for a variety
of reasons including potentially being needed in a time of extreme crisis where
an individual ruling unilaterally for the good of her people can potentially be
of benefit- one of the few scenarios her subjects might not mind her flexing
her political muscles a bit without necessarily consulting parliament,
depending on the circumstances.
That said, just
because she isn’t in the practice of exercising her powers against the will of
the people, it doesn’t mean she isn’t occasionally an active political
powerhouse in private. Extremely well respected and known worldwide, with the
ability to bend the ear of most heads of state, the influence the Queen wields
is difficult to quantify, but, as noted in an article discussing
why the BBC named the Queen the most powerful woman in the world in their list
of 100 most powerful women,
Her Majesty’s power
is more about influence – a discreet nod of the head, a polite word in the ear
of a Prime Minister at their weekly meeting, or a strategic patronage of a
cause being overlooked by the Government – is how she can indirectly effect our
world without us even knowing.
To
conclude, the Queen has many powers she could theoretically legally use to her
own ends unless her subjects and parliament simply decided to stage a revolt.
However, she generally avoids doing anything overt that might upset her
subjects, and otherwise simply works in the background more or less in an
advisory role when she feels there is need.
No comments:
Post a Comment