Country Studies / Royal Family

The Royal Family

1. The history of the Royal House of Windsor.

dates back to the king William the Conqueror who began the building of the royal castle on the banks of the river Thames some 20 miles from London more than 1000 years ago. This palace was called Windsor Castle after the name of the settlement nearby.

Since 1066 the monarchy has been passed by blood-line through 40 kings and queens, it was never broken to the present monarch Queen Elizabeth II.

2. The later history of the monarchy history.

George V, the grandfather of the present queen had two sons. His elder son Edward VIII was never crowned because he broke a very strict rule: he married an American woman, who didn’t belong to any famous noble family, besides she was divorced. That’s why the second son George VI became the king after George’s death in 1936. His reign lasted for 16 years. He was married to Lady Elizabeth Bowers – Lyon, who became Queen Elizabeth after the marriage. They had two daughters … In 1947 the elder one Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbarten who was created (возведен) Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Her accession to the Throne took place in February 1952 after her father’s death. Her Majesty is the sixth sovereign queen of Britain. The royal family has sons and a daughter: the Prince Charles (Heir to the throne) born in 1948, Princess Anna (50) the Prince Andrew (born in 1960), the Prince Edward born in 1964. All of them were married and have children, nowadays divorced.

3. Constitutional Monarchy.

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Under the British Constitution, the Sovereign remains head of the state and has certain prerogatives, but in practice she entrusts the executive power to her Ministers of the Crown. It is the Sovereign who appoints the Prime Minister. In her power is to summon, and to dissolve the Parliament, to declare war and to make peace, to recognize foreign states and governments, to conclude treaties.

The Queen is head of the Court, the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the governor of the Church of England.

Every bill (законопроект) must be approved by the Queen before it becomes a law. The Queen makes formal appointments to all the important offices of state and in the armed forces and in the Church of England.

Every day the Queen studies Cabinet papers and Foreign Office documents, receives a report of the day’s proceedings in Parliament and sees the Prime Minister regularly. All these make her one of the best – informed people in the country.

The Queen does much to strengthen ties and friendship with foreign and Commonwealth countries.

But the Queen reigns but not rules.

She has mostly an important symbolic role: she symbolizes the unity of the nation and the continuity of the state over the centuries.

4. The Queen is involved in a very wide range of public activities. She is usually present at the most important ceremonies such as opening new buildings, visiting hospitals, schools, industries, attending film premieres or sporting events. There are a number of special royal occasions which take place regularly each year. Usually in October or November there is the State Opening of the Parliament at which the Queen rides in a state carriage from the Buckingham palace and wears the Imperial State Crown, delivers a speech from the throne in the House of Lords.

5. Trooping the Colour ceremony or House Guards Parade, in celebration of the Sovereign’s official birthday. Annually she awards honors to some people, the most important of them is the Order of the Garter (Орден Подвязки) which has 6.00 years old history. The Queen’s work is not limited only by public appearances. Every day much paperwork requires attention: letters, telegrams, reports and official documents have to be read and signed.

6. Three quarters of the royal expenses are financed by the government, one quarter comes from the tax, so-called Civil List, which covers taxes from every citizen of Great Britain. The expenditures are great: 6 palaces (approximately 350 people serve the Royal Family), the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Queen’s plane, the Royal Train and so on.

But the Queen herself is one of the richest women in the world.