BRITISH royalty reigns but does not govern. According to a famed British constitutional scholar, Walter Bagehot, Queen Elizabeth II “could disband the army; she could dismiss all the officers . . .she could sell off all our ships-of-war and all our naval stores; she could make a peace by the sacrifice of Cornwall and begin a war for the conquest of Brittany. She could make every citizen in the United Kingdom, male or female, a peer; she could make every parish in the United Kingdom a ‘University’; she could dismiss most of the civil servants, and she could pardon all offenders.”
Queen Victoria, in whose reign Bagehot was writing, exclaimed: “Oh, the wicked man, to write such a story!” Elizabeth might feel the same way, for, as every loyal subject knows, the British Constitution cannot be understood by people who think it says exactly what it means. The monarch’s will is presumed to march with the will of her ministers. Elizabeth’s actual rights as a Queen are only three: the right to be consulted by the Prime Minister, to encourage certain courses of action, and to warn against others.
She calls a party leader to form a government, but the person she designates must command a majority in the House of Commons. (George III was the last monarch to summon and dismiss ministries at will.) Elizabeth’s power to grant or refuse a dissolution of Parliament is real enough, but she would use it independently only in extraordinary circ*mstances—e.g., if death or strife hopelessly entangled the wheels of party government.
What She Must Do. Personifying the authority she cannot wield, the Queen has duties that far exceed her powers, and must sign thousands of papers. She enacts laws by and with parliamentary assent, appoints judges and magistrates who act in her name,* confers titles and creates peerages. She is supreme head of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, which makes her an Anglican south of the Tweed, and a Presbyterian north of it. She is guardian of infants, idiots and lunatics (the Lord Chancellor actually does this job). If a condemned murderer should be pardoned, the Home Secretary will tell her so (George VI conscientiously read up on capital cases, but often discussed the case afterwards with the Home Secretary).
What She Can Do. If the Queen pleases, she can ride in a horse carriage down Rotten Row, where others can only ride horseback. Her picture will appear on postage stamps, but she will not need them; her personal mail is franked. She can drive as fast as she likes in a car which needs no license number. She can tell her sister Margaret when she can marry, and will surely advise her on whom to marry. She can confer Britain’s highest civilian decoration, the Order of Merit—one honor in which the Sovereign retains freedom of choice.
What She Can’t Do. Elizabeth cannot vote. Nor can she express any shading of political opinion in public. The last monarch who did that was George III, who in 1780 personally canvassed Windsor against the Whig candidate Keppel. Elizabeth cannot sit in the House of Commons, although the building is royal property. She addresses the opening session of each Parliament, but she cannot write her own speech. She cannot refuse to sign a bill of Parliament. She cannot appear as a witness in court, or rent property from her subjects.
What She Owns. Elizabeth is one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Although a monarch’s private holdings (and will) are unpublished, the crown jewels are estimated at up to $140 million, and Buckingham Palace’s gold dinner service at $10 million. It is impossible to price-tag the private estates at Balmoral and Sandringham, the library of Windsor Castle and the art treasures of Buckingham Palace. The Queen owns 600 of the Thames River’s 800 swans, all sturgeons and whales caught in home waters, the land around the perimeter of the islands between high and low tide, all gold and silver mines in Britain (there are none to speak of), all treasure trove in Britain, and the exclusive right to search for oil in the United Kingdom.
She is entitled to an annual ground rent of one snowball from the Munros of Foulis, and a white rose from the Duke of Atholl. The royal real-estate holdings are enormous: estates in Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset, beaches in Cornwall and Devon, 100,000 acres of farmland, immensely valuable land in London (the south side of Piccadilly Circus, both sides of Regent Street, two theaters, three restaurants and the Carlton Hotel). But Elizabeth “owns” these properties only nominally. They are administered by Crown Commissioners for the benefit of Parliament, under a bargain struck with George III in 1760. In return, Parliament will vote Elizabeth the Civil List, under which her father received $1,148,000 a year. This may be increased for Elizabeth. Whether her husband will get a separate allowance is still to be decided. Elizabeth will also get the revenue from the 50,000-acre Duchy of Lancaster (about $280,000 last year). As Queen, she pays no income tax.
* And in whose courts she cannot be sued or arraigned for any crime, including murder.
