72
votes
Accepted
What is the biggest monarchy where the monarch has real power in modern day?
By almost any measure, Saudi Arabia takes the prize.
Most of the absolute monarchies or even monarchies where the monarchy has more than symbolic power outside a rare constitutional crisis are in the ...
- 73.7k
68
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
TLDR
From natural-born citizens at least, no, you don't need to swear such allegiance, unless you're doing some very specific jobs. Even in such jobs, possible with some exceptional circumstances, ...
- 621
67
votes
Accepted
Why does the British PM meet the Queen every week?
It is a constitutional rather than a statutory requirement:
Prime Ministers have a constitutional responsibility to tell the Queen what is happening (John Major)
The Queen remains the Head of ...
- 115k
64
votes
Accepted
What would happen if the Queen died immediately before a general election?
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 ...
- 7,468
59
votes
Accepted
Could the Queen have stopped Brexit?
In theory: Yes.
Brexit requires legislation, which the Queen can veto; and the Queen also has prerogative over international treaties.
It was decided by the UK Supreme Court that the government ...
- 11.4k
55
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
I have been a Canadian my whole life and I do not recall ever being asked to "swear allegiance" to the monarch verbally.
Generally the monarchy is popular in a celebrity kind of way and while there ...
- 1,611
54
votes
Accepted
Is King Charles permitted to express opinions on politics provided he does not actually interfere with government policies?
A question of written rules, unwritten rules, and bending or breaking them.
The UK political system developed from a monarchy to a democracy without the clean break of a final overthrow of the ...
- 106k
40
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
This is a complete non-issue in the UK. For example, the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn, has openly refused to sing the National Anthem when attending high profile, televised, ...
- 2,224
32
votes
Accepted
Why was Edward VIII's marriage a problem, but not Prince Charles's second?
The difference in this case is that Prince Charles already had two heirs from his first marriage with the deceased Princess Diana Spencer (Prince William and Prince Henry). Should he have another ...
- 74.8k
30
votes
Is King Charles permitted to express opinions on politics provided he does not actually interfere with government policies?
As o.m. points out, questions like this tend to be much more intricate for the British political system than for many others. The constitution of the United Kingdom is not a unitary written document, ...
- 12.7k
27
votes
What power does the Queen have in the event of a Hung Parliament?
Queen's prerogative powers
The Queen has the right to authorise the forming of a new government and the appointment of a Prime Minister. So, theoretically, she can and has the power to say 'no' to ...
- 46.5k
26
votes
Accepted
Can Prince Charles pass the throne to Prince William of his own free will?
Yes, he most certainly could, assuming that Parliament agreed to accept his abdication. We have a precedent in the His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 where Parliament passed a bill ...
- 2,530
26
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
British person here, swearing an oath of loyalty to the monarch only happens if you join government service of some kind (millitary, police, etc). Otherwise it almost never comes up. While I quite ...
- 361
25
votes
Why does the UK have a Queen instead of a King?
Laws of royal succession vary between monarchies. Some have inheritance in the male line only, but others do not. The UK has a tradition of allowing inheritance through the female line; and of women ...
- 11.4k
24
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
New citizens
Others have discussed most about those having citizenship from birth. I will attempt to answer this part of your question:
What about a non-natural person otherwise qualifying for ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
18
votes
If the elected UK parliament falls into disarray, can the reigning monarch take over?
Questions about the power of the Queen come up occasionally on this site. The normal answer goes something like this. The Queen has absolute authority to do as she pleases; however, she does not ...
- 3,186
18
votes
If the elected UK parliament falls into disarray, can the reigning monarch take over?
The situation you're asking about is a Hung Parliament and is fairly common. While the Queen can't simply take over government if parliament is hung, she (or rather her ministers) can use Orders in ...
- 4,618
15
votes
Is Herman van Rompuy's recently-created noble title hereditary?
No. Belgian noble titles are only hereditary in rare instances, although it does still happen. As you mention, Herman van Rompuy's title was granted by Royal Decree on July 8th 2015. This was ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
14
votes
What would happen if the Queen died immediately before a general election?
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 ...
- 1,614
14
votes
King's name symbolism
the symbolism of [Charles II] opposition to "democracy" is still there.
In his numerous public speeches over the last half century since his investiture a Prince of Wales until his ...
- 9,051
13
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
The other answers comprehensively cover the UK and Canada cases. I'll offer the Australian perspective, as a naturalised Australian citizen.
Contrary to Canada, the Australian citizenship pledge does ...
- 231
11
votes
Accepted
Can the Queen still cancel Brexit?
It's very difficult to answer such a hypothetical question but here goes...
The Queen could have unilaterally attempted to invoke a no deal Brexit by withdrawing the UK from its EU treaty obligations....
- 5,670
11
votes
Is King Charles permitted to express opinions on politics provided he does not actually interfere with government policies?
One interesting thing about the shared monarchy, is that Charles isn't just king of the United Kingdom, but king of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New ...
- 111
10
votes
Could the Queen have stopped Brexit?
She could, but would have been unlikely to happen.
The Supreme Court ruled in January that Parliament must vote on whether to invoke Article 50 (although the devolved parliaments do not need to be ...
- 1,824
10
votes
Accepted
Do heirs to the British monarchy need to prove their fertility when they come of age to ensure the line of succession?
The very short answer is no. The sole requirement for an heir to the throne (per the Act of Settlement 1701) is that they have to be "Heirs of [the monarch's] Body" and "such Issue to ...
- 2,530
10
votes
Can the Queen still cancel Brexit?
Once upon a time, the UK was a genuine monarchy.
These days, the Queen acts as Crown-in-Parliament, which is a fancy way of saying that everybody pretends that the Queen still is the source of ...
- 106k
9
votes
Is it possible to live as a British/Canadian/Australian while openly disavowing the Monarchy?
H2ONaCl's answer gives a good Canadian perspective, there is a similar list for the UK here, which lists Members of Parliament, prominent journalists and media personalities.
MORI polls cited on the ...
9
votes
Within what limits can the prime minister ask the queen to prorogue parliament?
The limits can only be decided by a court, because the UK does not have written constitution setting them out.
The PM advises the queen to prorogue Parliament. There is an unwritten rule that the ...
- 17.6k
8
votes
Is a consitutional monarchy really a democracy?
The definition of a democracy is one where the government is chosen by some form of election. Not all constitutional monarchies are democracies, because not all constitutional monarchies' governments ...
- 4,710
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible