5. The Monarchy in Britain Today.

1. Members of the Royal Family

a) Queen Elizabeth :

- born on 21 April 1926

- first child of The Duke and Duchess of York

- christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary

- 1936 becoming heir presumptive

- 1944 first official tour throughout Scotland

- 1945 joining auxiliary territorial service

- 1947 first overseas visit and 20^th birthday

- 20 November 1947 married to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten

- they have 4 children (Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince

Edward)

- 1952 King George the sixth died while Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh

were in Kenya

- on 2 June 1953 the coronation of Queen Elizabeth took place in Westminster Abbey

b) Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh:

- born on 10 June 1921

- the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg -> Prince

of Greece and Denmark

- marriage with Princess Elizabeth in 1947

- his full title is : Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich

- he has Queen Victoria as great-great-grandmother, just like The Queen

c) Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales:

- born on 14 November 1948

- eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip

- heir apparent to the throne

- in 1958 he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester

- he was educated at Cheam School in Scotland

- read archaeology and anthropology and history at the University of Cambridge and

graduated with honours

- seat in the house of Lords

- on 29 July 1981 he married Diana Spencer

- they have two children ( Prince William and Prince Henry)

- the marriage dissolved on 28 August in 1996

- The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash on 31 August in Paris

- on 9 April he married Camilla Parker-Bowles who is now the Duchess of Cornwall

d) Prince William:

- born on 21 June 1982 in London

- christened as William Arthur Philip Louis

- 1990-1995 studies at Ludgrove School

- 1995 he attended Eton College in Windsor

- finishing his studies at the University of St. Andrews with his Master of Arts in

Geography with Honours

- 2006 he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

e) Prince Henry:

- born on 15 September 1984

- christened Henry Charles Albert David (also known as Prince Harry) - 2003 Prince Harry left school with A levels in Art and Geography

- 2005 Prince Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

- 2006 he was commissioned as an army officer

1. The Queen and the Parliament / Prime Minister

- The title “Queen in Parliament” is just the formal name of the British

legislature. It consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of

Commons. The House of Commons has the dominant political power in the

legislature.

- The Queen is required to assent to the bills on the advice of her ministers.

- She opens the Parliament every year with the famous Queen’s Speech.

- The Queen has the power to appoint the Prime Minister. Normally, the Prime

Minister is the leader of the party which has won the elections in Parliament.

- The Queen meets the prime minister every week. The audiences between the

Monarch and her Government are strictly confidential.

- Only the Queen is able to summon, prorogue (i.e. discontinue without

dissolving it) and to dissolve the Parliament.

- There is one occasion for the Parliament to meet without the royal summons,

and that is when the Sovereign has died.

2. The Queen and elections

- As Head of State, the Queen must remain politically neutral, since her

Government will be formed.

- She is part of the legislature and so she cannot vote for members of another

part of the legislature. But in fact, the Sovereign is not specifically prohibited

from voting.

- The royal family does not vote either, even if they are allowed to in local

elections.

3. The Queen and the Privy Council

- The Privy Council is the oldest form of legislative assembly which is still

functioning. Until the 17

th

century, the King and the Council were the

Government with Parliament’s role limited to voting funds. Today it has

limited, formal executive functions, which retain some significance. On advice

of the Privy Council, the Queen formally approves numerous Orders in

Council and Proclamations.4. The Queen and devolved administrations

- Scotland: Under legislation of the Scottish Parliament, Members of this Parliament take

the oath of allegiance to the Crown and the Queen receives a weekly report

from the Parliament on its business, given its specific legislative role.

The Queen appoints the Scottish First Minister and they have regular audiences

so that the Queen can keep up to date with Scottish affairs.

- Wales: The legislation which established the National Assembly makes clear that it is

a Crown Body and elected members take the oath of allegiance. The Assembly

staff are members of Her Majesty’s Home Civil Service.

- Northern Ireland: The sitting of the Assembly is a matter for the UK Government to

decide as part of the ongoing peace process.

5. The Queen and the Commonwealth

- The Queen is also Head of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 53

independent countries which have progressed from British rule to independent

self-government. The Commonwealth serves to foster international

cooperation and trading links between people all over the world.

- The Queen has a symbolic role without any constitutional functions. She

reinforces the links by which the Commonwealth joins people together from all

over the world.

- The Queen also attends the Commonwealth Day Observance in London and

broadcasts her annual Christmas and Commonwealth Day messages. Other

members of the royal family also pay frequent visits to the Commonwealth.

- Once every two years, there is a meeting of the “Commonwealth Heads of

Government” at locations throughout the Commonwealth. The Queen is

normally present in the host countries and has some private meetings with the

Commonwealth countries’ leaders.

6. The Queen and law / judiciary

The Sovereign as fount of justice:

- The Sovereign today retains a symbolic role as the figure in whose name

justice is carried out and law and order is maintained.

- Judges can be removed by the Sovereign on the advice of Ministers.

The Queen’s role in administration of justice:

- Today, the administration of justice is carried out by others, who act in the

Queen’s name.

- The Courts are The Queen’s Courts, the judges are Her Majesty’s judges and

derive their authority from the Crown, criminal prosecutions are brought in the

name of the Crown against those charged, the prisons are Her Majesty’s

prisons and prisoners were formerly detained ‘at Her Majesty’s pleasure’.

- In the area of law the Queen only acts on the advice of her Ministers.

The Queen’s position under UK law:

- It is not possible to take civil and criminal proceedings against the Sovereign

as a person.

- Civil proceedings can be taken against the Crown in its public capacity. This

means, that proceeding against the Crown is proceeding against governmentdepartments and agencies, as the elected government governs in The Queen’s

name.

- Just like the Queen’s other public functions, she confers honours on the advice

of her ministers rather than on her own royal initiative. (There are still certain

honours in the United Kingdom that the Monarch can confer at his or her own

discretion.)

- The Sovereign, as the “fountain of honour” is the only person in the UK who

has the right to confer all titles of honour which exist in the UK.

- Since the mid-twentieth century, the exchange of Orders has become less

personal but more formal and diplomatic. Today, orders bestowed on one

nation and reciprocal awards to foreign heads of state are formal and official

awards by which one nation honours another in the person of the head of state.

11. Royal visits

- Visits to all kinds of places in the whole United Kingdom, the Commonwealth

and overseas are an important part of the Queen’s and members of the royal

family’s work.

- Each year, the Queen and her family undertake nearly 3000 visits.

- Many of the visits include official functions, e.g. opening new buildings,

meeting local dignitaries and visiting businesses, schools, hospitals and so on

6. The Health Service in Britain. The National Health Service (NHS) is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom. Only the English NHS is officially called the National Health Service, the others being NHS Scotland and NHS Wales.Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland is called the HSC rather than the NHS. Each system operates independently, and is politically accountable to the relevant government: the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, or the UK government.

Despite their separate funding and administration, there is no discrimination when a resident of one country of the United Kingdom requires treatment in another although a patient will often be returned to their home area when they are fit to be moved. The financial and administrative consequences are dealt with by the organisations involved and no personal involvement by the patient is required.

Treatment of persons not resident in the United Kingdom is subject to mostly uniform arrangements made by or delegated to the UK Department of Health rather than any individual health service. Foreign nationals always receive treatment free at the time of use for emergencies. Treatment for injuries caused in a road traffic accident has been chargeable since the 1930s but such charges were not generally enforced until the Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999 came into force to direct the charges to the insurers of the vehicles involved; this necessarily involves patients in the charging process even though they are not personally billed for treatment. Foreign nationals also receive free treatment if they have been legally resident in the UK for 12 months, have recently arrived to take up permanent residence, are claiming asylum or have other legal resident status. Citizens of European Economic Area nations, as well as those from countries with which the UK has a reciprocal arrangements, are also entitled to free treatment by using the European Health Insurance Card.^[1][2] Foreign nationals may be subject to an interview to establish their nationality and residence status, which must be resolved before non-emergency treatment can commence. Patients who do not qualify for free treatment are asked to pay in advance, or to sign a written undertaking to pay.