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I am referring to a hypothetical scenario where parliament tries to make the heir to one of the alternate successions to the English throne the monarch. I know that Queen Elizabeth has royal prerogatives of giving Queen’s Consent to allowing the debate of bills affecting the interests of the crown(and there are examples of when she has withheld consent), and gives royal assent to bills(although 1708 was the last time a monarch vetoed a bill, she would likely veto a bill that changes the monarchy)

The catch is that the 1708 veto, and the times the monarch withheld consent was done acting on the advice of ministers. Does that mean that she cannot withhold royal consent and assent against the advice of her ministers?

The monarch also has the rarely used power to appoint and dismiss ministers, so would she be able to dismiss ministers before withholding royal consent and assent or does she have to give consent and assent right when the bill comes to her?

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  • Many of the strictures of the UK constitution are based on political considerations rather than explicit laws. So the answer to "would she be able to" is usually a twofold "nominally yes, but practically no." This is one thing that makes constitutional crises in the UK so interesting, because the real question is whether the circumstances at hand justify a departure from accepted practice. Here it would probably depend on the reasons behind parliament's act. Do you have any hypothetical reasons why a parliament would do something like this?
    – phoog
    Jan 2, 2019 at 20:20
  • "The Queen has a veto. The Queen has at most one veto."
    – Martin Schröder
    Jan 3, 2019 at 1:26

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Would the Parliament of the United Kingdom have the legal power to change the monarchy?

Yes. Parliament has changed the monarch, or altered the line of succession, on several occasions, including:

Does that mean that [the Queen] cannot withhold royal consent and assent against the advice of her ministers?

Yes, in practice. As is frequently commented here and elsewhere, the Queen can do all of these things in theory, but doing so against the advice of her ministers could lead to a constitutional crisis.

The monarch also has the rarely used power to appoint and dismiss ministers

It is indeed very rare for the monarch to dismiss a minister; however, her representative in Australia dismissed the Prime Minister in 1975, which did indeed cause a constitutional crisis.

On the other hand, the Queen routinely uses her power to appoint ministers - on the advice of the Prime Minister, of course (and a new PM is appointed on the advice of the outgoing one).

so would she be able to dismiss ministers before withholding [Royal Assent] or does she have to give [assent] right when the bill comes to her?

As suggested in the question, the Queen is expected to give her assent to any bill that is presented to her.

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