Did you know?

The Queen Elizabeth Windsor is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development. The Queen is married to Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren.

Vocabulary Practice

2 Match the underlined words in the text with their synonyms below.

• nominate oneself • monarch • cancel • originality • call • commanding • involve

3 From the list below match the verbs to the right definitions:

1. to be present in something

2. to officially order someone to come to a meeting

3. to formally end a parliament before an election

4. to free someone from a debt or punishment

5. to use power or influence

6. to officially stop something from continuing, especially for a short time

7. to officially give someone a title, etc., especially as a reward for something they have achieved

(to reside in, to summon, to suspend, to dissolve, to confer, to discharge, to exercise)

4 Answer the following questions. Base your answers on the information in the text.

1. Is Britain a completely democratic country?

2. Why is the Queen not sovereign in a substantial way?

3. Where does British sovereignty reside?

4. What did the Parliament agree to allow the Crown to do?

5. What are the powers of the monarch?

6. What are the duties of the Queen in Parliament?

5 Make up the presentation “The British monarchy: the past and the present” using visual aids (approximately 10-15 slides) in accordance with the following plan:

• the definition of the monarchy

• its major types (an absolute monarchy, a limited monarchy, hereditary monarchy)

• through the ages (historical aspects of the British monarchy)

• the British monarchy nowadays

• the official names of the monarch

• Her Majesty’s official address

• the Queen’s role in the modern state

• the monarch as the head of state

• the Royal prerogatives

• state your argumentative point of view on the issue whether the monarchy “must stay” or “must go”. Support your opinion with reasons and/or examples from your own observations, and/or reading.

Listening

Listen to Gary, Emma and Linda giving their views on the monarchy. Who supports the monarchy, who opposes it and who has no strong feeling about it?

Reading 2

1 The British parliament is one of the oldest parliamentary systems in the world! Let’s investigate the idea of parliament.

1. Write down some words and phrases related to parliament.

2. Give your own definition of parliament.

3. Study the dictionary definitions of parliament:

• the legislative branch of power;

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

• an elected assembly, responsible for passing legislation and granting government the right to levy taxation;