The British Monarchy today a brief guide to Britain‘s Monarchy  the Queen  the Royal Family

1. The British Monarchy today • a brief guide to Britain‘s Monarchy the Queen  the Royal Family  the Queen‘s role  questions concerning the Monarchy • the future of the British Monarchy  opinions and quotes  in defense  reform perspective  abolition  evaluation

2. Britain‘s Monarchy Britain is a constitutional monarchy. That means the Monarch is the head of state, but his power is limited by constitutional rules. But... Who is this Monarch? Queen Elizabeth II Date of birth: 21 April 1926 Family: Prince Philip and four children and six grandchildren Coronation: 2 June 1953 in Westminster Abbey Hobbies: Horses and dogs

3. The Royal Family The Queen is supported by the members of the Royal Family. Her family carries out a wide range of public and official duties. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Date of birth: 10 June 1921 Parents: Prince Andrew of Greece Princess Alice of Battenberg Duties: Patron or President of around 800 organisations, accompanies the Queen Hobbies: Nature

4. Children of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales (eldest son) Date of birth: 14 November 1948 Family: Prince William (20) Prince Harry (18) Duties: Patron or President of around 200 organisations, public commitment Hobbies: Environment (organic agriculture) Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, Princess Royal (2nd child) Date of birth: 15 August 1950 Family: 2nd husband: Commodore Laurence, two children Duties: Charitable appointments 25 journeys to Africa Hobbies: Horses

5. Children of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York (3rd child) Date of birth: 19 Februray 1960 Family: Divorced, three children Duties: Patron or President of about 100 organisations British Trade International Profession: Pilot in the Navy Edward Antony Richard Louis, Earl of Wessex (4th child) Date of birth: 10 March 1964 Family: Wife: Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones Duties: Patron of 15 organisations Profession: Royal Marines, Theatre and TV production Hobbies: Sports

6. What‘s the Queen‘s role? •  representative and symbolic function •  head of the Church of England, special relation to the Church of Scotland •  head of the • Commonwealth

7. The Queen and the Church • a) The Church of England • -foundation: Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England (in the 1530s) • organised into two Provinces: Canterbury (Southern Povince) and York (Northern Province) • the Monarch must be in communion with the church and has to promise during the coronation oath to maintain the Church • relation between the Church and the Queen: -archbishops and bishops are appointed by the the Queen (on advice of the Prime Minster and a Church Commission) • -archbishops, bishops and priests take an oath of allegiance to the Queen • relation between the Church and the state: -the two archbishops and 24 bishops sit in the House of Lords (“Lords Spiritual“)

8. b)The Church of Scotland • -foundation: a saint called Ninian is regarded as having set up the first universal Church in Scotland at around 400 AD • -is is organised into different sections (on a local, a district and a national level) and it is supposed to have a presbyterian character (which means that it is run by a system of courts at local, district and national level rather than by individuals) • -the monarch is required to preserve the Church of Scotland and takes an oath to do that immediately afer his/her accession • relation between the Church and the Queen:-the Queen is an ordinary member • -the Crown is represented during the General Assembly, by the monarch or by a Lord High Commissioner (who is appointed by the Queen each year) -the Queen and the Lord High Commissioner-

9. The Commonwealth -association of 54 independent and equal nations (e.g. Australia, India, Pakistan) -foundation: 1949, after the independence of India and Pakistan from Britain -principles: equality, justice and democracy -aims: it is supposed to advance democracy, human rights, and sustainable economic and social development -Commonwealth members have no contractual obligations and the Commonwealth‘s structure is based on unwritten and traditional procedures - worldmap of the countries beloning to the Commonwealth -

10. The Queen and the Commonwealth • -she is the Head of the Commonwealth, since a unanimous vote after the death of her father  this position is not hereditary and will not automatically be transferred to future monarchs • she has no constitutional or executive but symbolic function • she is host to the Heads of State of Commonwealth countries and receives them in private audiences • regular contact with the Secretary-General, who has executive powers - the Queen and the Heads of State of the Commonwealth countries -

11. What powers does the Queen have? •  signs bills into laws •  appoints Prime Minister & he is granted • an audience every Tuesday •  appoints the life peers •  pardons convicted criminals •  dissolves Parliament and calls an election •  declares a state of emergency •  declares war •  awards honours

12. How much does it cost to run the monarchy? • controversial: Civil List for the running of the Queen‘s household spends: 6,5 million, but fixed until 2011: 7,9 million • personal income: 7,3 million Pounds • all in all she has 50,2 million Pounds per year

13. Does to Queen pay taxes? • yes, on voluntary basis (private income) • But: she did not pay inheritance tax after the death of Queen Mother (20 million Pounds)

14. Developing a future REFORM REFORM ABOLISH ABOLISH KEEP REFORM KEE P R E F O R M REFORM K E E P ABOLISH KEEP REFORM KEEP ABOLISH ABOLISH KEEP

15. The monarch has no real power and parliament could dissolve the monarchy at some stage in the future if it saw fit, so it really isn´t undemocratic. An elected president is not a good alternative – it is hard enough to get people to vote as it is, so what sort of turnout would there be for electing a president? A. Cooke The Royals are a constant reminder of inequality, class division and power of the rich to manipulate and control the masses via media. J. Lennik I agree with AN Wilson´s comment in the evening standard, where he says he would hate to see a politician riding around in a coach – we would be replacing tradition with champagne socialism – at least the Royals are that – royal. G. Walker All heads of state cost money – fact. The fact that our head of state costs the taxpayer less than the French President is an often overlooked point by the republicans. So let put this in context. R. Merrin What do you think as a British person about the monarchy?(collected by the BBC)

16. The Future of the British Monarchy ‘... everybody talks about the monarchy. They may laugh at it, they may defend it, they may insist it is unimportant or argue that it is 'the only thing that keeps our country great'; they might despair at the triviality of it all or fear the reactions of others if the question is raised; they may…. admire the Queen for the job she does. But whether it is anger, loyalty, love it or hate it, everyone feels something about the Royal Family and can say so' (Anthony Barnett; professor) 'It is very hard for the political nation in Britain to discuss the monarchy in sensible terms. By most people and for much of the time it is accepted as simply being there, somewhat like the weather, rather baffling but a fixture and very much part of the scene, part of the specialness of being British and often a source of self-congratulation verging on the smug '(Peter Hennessy; professor)

17. In Defense of the Traditional Monarchy -the British Monarchy is not contradictory to the demoratic principle, because the Monarch has no real “day-to-day“ power, this enables him/her to fulfil other important roles in Britain – much better than an elected president could -being the Monarch of Britain is connected to a heavy symbolic burden and must be a ceremonial institution (“the fountain of honour“); the Monarch plays this role by being the symbolic head of state, by being the head of the Church of England, by being the Commander in Chief of the army and by setting a moral example -the Monarch is supposed to be impartial, thereby he/she can serve as a costitutional judge and can encourage, advice, warn or criticize the Prime Minster and other politicians -the monarchy symbolises British history and greatness, to decline it means to decline this history and greatness -it´s true that the monarchy costs a lot of money, but the monarchy brings in money too, by e.g. tourism -the behaviour of individual Royals is irrelevant to the institution of the Monarchy and cannot affect it in any way So defenders argue that the Monarchy is not undemocratic and actually contributes to British demoracy in a way no elected president could.

18. The Reform Perspective -aims of reforms: a) Britain´s monachy is not a “perfect“ constitutional monarchy, because the Monarch has too much power and even weakens democracy (it is, for example, questionable why honours or royal issues can´t be discussed in Parliament or why there aren´t fixed election dates) b) a “citizen monarchy“ -since around 1945 there have been enormous social changes, it is now much more difficult to embody Britain since it is a multi-cultural, multi-faith and multi-racial society -the media‘s intrusiveness has de-mystified the Monarchy -the Windsors have precipitated their own ruin in the public eye, exampls are the way how Diana and Charles divorced and how they fought their private fights in public -especially Diana was hunted by the press and her private life became public life-

19. Categories of reform • Symbolic and stylistic reforms the Royals could present themselves as ordinary people in public (e.g. clothes,...) • b) Practical Reforms the costs to run a monarchy could be reduced, titles could be reduced • c) Organisational change could mean that the Prime Minister´s role becomes more important and that he could advise the Royals

20. Reforms that have already taken place: -the Queen pays taxes on her personal wealth (on a voluntary basis) -many Royals don´t have titles (e.g. Princess Ann´s children) -the Royals try to help the poor (e.g. with the Prince‘s Trust) -since Diana´s death there has been a campaign to show how “normal“ the Royals are (e.g. Prince Charles showed himself in an informal way with the Spice Girls) -Prince Charles has recently appointed the first black member of his staff -Prince Charles and the Spice Girls-

21. Abolition Reasons  -some people argue that the monarchy is a constant reminder of an unequal society, in which birth still matters  -the Monarchy is described as a relic of the class system and keeps Britain back  -others think that the Monarchy is just something that belongs to the past, but has no space in a modern society or is something that´s not more than a joke anymore  -the Monarchy can just survive because it is supported by myths (e.g. the Royals work hard, they set a moral example, it’s good for tourism,…)

22. What could abolition mean? the Royals could become ordinary citizens who get a pension their belongings such as castles, jewels, paintings in the royal collection could become state property honors, ceremonials and the national anthem could be replaced perhaps the Prime Minster, the Speaker or someone elected could become the Head of State (most republicans favour a strong president as in the US)

23. Evaluation – Keep it?/Reform it?/Abolish it? the grand symbolic monarchy belongs to the past the Royals know that reforms are needed and they have been working on these reforms for the last 20 or 30 years the monarchy is not in danger, unless there is a further crisis caused by royal misbehavior or scandal; BUT there is an increasing yet small support for republicanism