The Monarchy

Britain is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the monarch, at the moment Queen Elizabeth II, is head of the state. The queen is also the head of the judiciary (all the judges) and of the Church of England, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Her face is on all British bank notes, coins and postage stamps.

The Queen's constitutional role, however, is mainly symbolic. True power lies in the hands of the Prime Minister and his or her Cabinet. It is the Queen who formally opens Parliament every autumn, but the speech she makes from the throne, giving details of the government's future plans is written for her by politicians. Nothing becomes British law without the monarch's signature, but the Queen would never refuse to sign a bill which has been passed by Parliament. It is the Queen who officially appoints the Prime Minister, but traditionally she always asks the leader of the party that has a majority in the House of Commons.

The most important function of the Queen is ceremonial. On great occasions such as the State Opening of Parliament, she is driven through the streets in a golden carriage, guarded by soldiers. She gives a state banquet, usually in her home Buckingham Palace when foreign monarchs or Heads of State visit Britain and soldiers dressed in eighteenth-century uniforms help her welcome them.

The Queen is head of the Commonwealth. She meets and entertains prime ministers of the member states.

Since Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, she has represented Britain in visits to most parts of the world. Prime ministers come and go, but she carries on above politics, a symbol of British traditions.

The surname of the royal family is Windsor. This might sound very British, but the royal family's ancestors were German. The present Queen's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria (1819-1910), was born in Britain, but her mother and her husband were both German. When Queen Victoria got married, she became a Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The British royal family continued with this surname until the First World War (1914-1918) when King George V (1865-1936) decided to adopt the more English-sounding name of Windsor. In fact, Windsor is the name of one of their castles.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (known as the Queen Mother) became very popular with the British people during the Second World War (1939-1945). They refused to leave London, even though their home Buckingham Palace was bombed. In 1953, millions of people watched Queen Elizabeth's II coronation on television and thought of her, her husband and their two little children as the ideal British family. This image of the royal family did not last.

Words

judge судья

church церковь

commander-in-chief главнокомандующий

coin монета

stamp марка

law закон

refuse отказываться

sign подписывать

appoint назначать

majority большинство

represent представлять