According to the famous British scholar Water Bagehot, Queen Elizabeth-II could disband the army; she could dismiss all the officers; she could sell of 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 UK a “University”; she could dismiss most of the civil servants, and she could pardon all offenders.”
Her Majesty’s actual rights as a Queen are only three:
- The right to be consulted by the Prime Minister
- To encourage certain courses of action
- To warn against others.
However, her duties are far greater than her rights. Her Majesty’s duties do not just consist one or two, but the many as below:
- Constitutional Arbitration: Provide arbitrator to, if some contradiction occurs in the parliament.
- Stability: After a long experience, Crown is very experience and much more stable than other political actors. Sovereignty is more deeply woven into the fabric of the political life.
- Continuity: Governments change after elections but Crown is always there this make the bridge between the gap of the government of the political parties.
- Experience: Because of hosting too many delegations, foreign ambassadors, and discussions with the Prime Minister enrich the knowledge of the Crown.
- Unity: There could be disunity and conflict among political parties in the House of the Commons and the house of the Lords. In case of conflict Crown is present to handle the crisis and stands for the symbol of unity.
- Succession: It becomes known that who is the next crown, so he/she is prepared and groomed for the supreme job.
- Focus of Allegiance: Army and all other forces have a loyalty towards the Crown. They fight in the name of Her Majesty. This makes them loyal to the Kingdom. Otherwise, political parties politicize the army for their self-interest.
Crown is mere a ceremonial. After the general elections, monarch dissolve the parliament and appoints the majority party (in the House of the Commons) to make a government. After the selection of the PM by the monarch, Prime Minister chooses his cabinet members, who are included in the cabinet after the royal assent. All the bills are passed by the parliament (House of the Commons and the House of the Lords) and at the end it gets royal assent to become a law or the Act of the Parliament. All treaties of peace, declaration of war and foreign relations are made in its name.