British monarchy
Queen's constitutional role
The British monarchy is the constitutional system in which a hereditary king or queen serves as the United Kingdom's head of state.
The monarch's role is largely ceremonial—opening Parliament, granting royal assent to laws, representing the nation abroad—while elected officials hold actual governing power.
The British monarchy has survived by adapting to democratic expectations.
- royal familyReigning monarch's relatives
- throneCeremonial chair for sovereigns
- crownSovereign's ornamental headpiece
- Magna CartaCharter curbing royal authority
- Elizabeth IFinal Tudor sovereign
Norman Conquest · Henry VIII · George VI · royal decree · Queen Victoria · Glorious Revolution · English Civil War · coronation · Prince of Wales · Buckingham Palace · changing of the guard · royalty · stiff upper lip · Tudor dynasty · House of Lords · Charles · line of succession · queen
- royaltyking, queen, prince, princess, kings
- British Classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, aristocrats
- George VIKing George VI, Bertie, Duke of York, The King's Speech, stammering
- Ulster Loyalismloyalism, unionism, Ulster, William of Orange, no surrender
- British LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Austen
- Elizabeth IIQueen Elizabeth, reign, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Prince Philip
British monarchyrepublic
State with elected leaders
republicanism · democracy · constitutional republic · presidential system · popular sovereignty
British monarchyFrench Revolution
Late-1700s republican upheaval
Russian Revolution · anarchy · interregnum · failed state · political instability
British monarchyFrench Republic
Official name for France
Irish Republic · Soviet Union · United States · Russian Revolution · People's Republic of China