I'm an American so I don't have a total grasp of UK politics but my understanding is that when the Queen of the UK dies, the country shuts down for a few days. It's also my understanding that prior to a general election, parliament is dissolved. Now there were rumours earlier today that the Queen died (she didn't) but it made me think: what would happen to the UK if the Queen (or another monarch) died immediately prior to the election where the shutdown/mourning period overlapped with the election? Would the election happen? If so, would it have to be delayed? Would that happen automatically or would parliament need to be undissolved in order for it to happen? Do the laws surrounding the deaths of monarchs and general elections already have contingencies for this sort of thing in place? Is there a scenario where the UK is left permanently without a parliament?
-
4There isn't really much of a shutdown: time.com/4019998/queen-elizabeth-ii-reign-began– richardbCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 8:52
-
36"The Queen is dead, long live the King"– GamoraCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 15:55
-
6It's the ultimate dead cat strategy.– Martin SchröderCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 19:34
-
26Nice try, Boris.– Hashim AzizCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 21:52
-
@Gamora Yes - on 8th September - 13 days ago - from the moment it was announced that the Queen was dead - it was also announced by the Prime Minister that the new king would be known as King Charles III - and he held all the usual powers of King in Parliament from that moment. The following day there were Acclamation ceremonies - but they were only by way of formal confirmation. As the Queen had already asked Liz Truss to form a government - that government remained formed.– WS2Commented Sep 21, 2022 at 20:11
3 Answers
Upon the Demise of the crown (which covers both the death of the current monarch or their abdication, or any other event ending the reign of the monarch), the next in succession immediately becomes the new monarch without any act of government or state required. The throne is never empty.
If this happens during the time Parliament has been dissolved for a general election, then the legislation of the Representation of the People Act 1985 comes in to play, which among other things, was enacted to
amend the law relating to the effect of the demise of the Crown on the summoning and duration of a new Parliament and to repeal section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1918
The relevant passage from the act says:
(3) In relation to the current election, for the purposes of the timetable in rule 1 in Schedule 1 to the principal Act—
a. the polling day shall be—
(i) the 14th day after the day which would otherwise have been the polling day, or
(ii) if the 14th day is not a working day, the next working day after the 14th day;
b. any working day within the period of 13 days beginning with the day after the demise—
(i) shall be disregarded in computing any period of time, and
(ii) shall not be treated as a day for the purpose of any proceedings before the polling day.
So usually the election would be postponed by 14 days. In the specific case of the 2019 general election to be held on the Thursday 12th December, this would move it to the 26th, which in the UK is a bank holiday - a non-working day. So it would, per 3.a.ii move to the next working day, which is Friday 27th December
-
58As Terry Pratchett once joked, "monarchy is the only thing that travels faster than light"– user2565Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 16:19
-
30"His ambitious plans to use his discovery to send messages, involving the careful torturing of a small king in order to modulate the signal, were never fully expanded because, at that point, the bar closed." - PTerry Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 16:22
-
5But what about monarches moving at relativistic speeds? Dying or receiving succession when one of the subjects is moving fast(TM) is not well defined, as it will happen at different times in their local times. Is the british monarchy limited to the solar system by design?– OxyCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 16:42
-
2I don't understand 3.b. What is it trying to say? And does it affect the calculations in 3.a?– BobsonCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 17:50
-
6@Bobson It relates to other things than the polling date, e.g. the last date for filing nomination papers: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2/schedule/1/part/I/enacted– richardbCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 19:41
There has been an instance of restarting from no monarch, no parliament so the answer to "Is there a scenario where the UK is left permanently without a parliament?" is "No".
In 1688, James II fled England after William of Orange had turned up, by invitation of some of James' opponents, with a very effective army. James got rid of the great seal, probably by dropping it in the Thames, so it could not be used to issue orders in his name. Parliament had previously been dissolved.
The monarchy and parliament were rebooted by a convoluted process. The peers of the realm asked William, as a sort of regent, to summon the "Convention Parliament", something between a parliament and a non-parliament convention. After some discussion, the Convention Parliament decided James had effectively abdicated, and invited William and his wife, Mary, to be joint sovereigns. William and Mary took the throne. They followed normal procedures to summon a new parliament, which passed an act ratifying everything the somewhat irregular convention parliament had done.
-
20"Welcome to the UK, where the parliament's made up, and the Queen doesn't matter" Commented Dec 3, 2019 at 1:10
-
3@AzorAhai In every country, at every moment in history, the Government is made up. Commented Dec 4, 2019 at 16:05
-
3Everything is legal if you have the muscle power to back up your claim to the legality. People often forget that laws are just pieces of paper and you need men with arms to turn them into reality. Commented Oct 11, 2020 at 20:22
-
@JonathanReez A Marxist would say that a "state" was an area within which legal force could be used by officials of a sovereign power.– WS2Commented Sep 21, 2022 at 20:17
The UK always has a monarch, because the monarchy transfers without anything needing to be done. The ceremony is simply the incumbent monarch formally accepting the role which they already have.
As a demonstration of this, when Princess Diana died, the Royal Family were widely criticised for not lowering the flag to half mast in honour of the death of a member of the family (however estranged). This demonstrated a widespread misconception though - flags on royal palaces indicate that the Queen is in residence. What people should have known (but chose to ignore) is that even when the Queen dies, flags should not be lowered - unless Prince Charles is not there, in which case they will be lowered wherever the Queen was and raised wherever he is.
Flags were eventually dipped to half mast at the time, but this was counter to protocol. The Queen being who she is, I would strongly suspect that she will have issued standing orders that flags are to be left hoisted. The monarchy never stops.
-
7There is a bit of confusion between the flag (the “Union Jack”) and the Royal Standard in this answer, I think. There was no flag nor standard flying over Buckingham Palace after Diana’s death, because the Queen was in Balmoral. (I believe this was shown differently in the film “The Queen”.) According to the Wikipedia article linked before, it was the Queen herself who “proposed a compromise whereby the Union Flag would be flown at half-mast on the day of Diana’s funeral”, and on several later occasions of mourning.– chirluCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 19:17
-
Potentially interesting fact: half-mast only applies if the flag is flown from a ship. If the flag is flown from a building or on land, the term is half-staff.– TipTapCommented Dec 2, 2019 at 20:38
-
1
-
1It doesn't appear to be true even in the US - see merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half-mast– bdslCommented Dec 3, 2019 at 18:20
-
@chirlu Much of this has become better clarified following the death of the Queen a fortnight ago. The Royal Standard IS NEVER FLOWN AT HALF MAST. It is flown above a building to indicate that the monarch is present therein. If the monarch has died, the RS is not flown unless the new living one is present. The Union Flag (aka Union Jack) can be and often is flown at half-mast– WS2Commented Sep 21, 2022 at 20:26