Behind the Crown: Unveiling the Surprising Truth About the King of England’s Real Power” Alternatively, you could also consider these options: * “The Monarch’s Hidden Reality: Separating Fact from Fiction” * “The King’s Limited Reign: A Look at the Brit

Some time ago, the British king’s coronation was very lively. Someone commented online that the British king is the last guarantee of British democracy and has the power to dismiss the prime minister. If an extreme government appears in Britain one day, the British king can dismiss the prime minister. Therefore, the British democracy is more perfect than the American democracy because the king is the last guarantee. This statement is ridiculous.

The UK does not have a written provision that states whether the King of the United Kingdom has the power or not to dismiss the Prime Minister. In theory, of course, it can be said that he has the power because he is nominally the head of state, but in reality he does not have this power. Unlike the United States, the UK does not have a written constitution. Conventions are also part of the constitution, and the current convention is that the King does not have the power to dismiss the Prime Minister. The last time a British King dismissed a Prime Minister was William IV, and that was almost 200 years ago. William IV dismissed a Prime Minister who was the leader of the majority party and invited another person to be the Prime Minister, which caused chaos and he had to invite the leader of the majority party back to be the Prime Minister. Since then, the King of the United Kingdom has never dismissed a Prime Minister again. The convention has been formed for almost 200 years, and it is impossible for a king to break the convention in the future, otherwise there will be a constitutional crisis.

The UK practices a constitutional monarchy, the core of which is a “virtual monarch”. The monarch does not have any political power and is only the nominal head of state. So it is self-contradictory and ridiculous to say that the king is the last guarantee of democracy.

The British constitutional monarchy was not established overnight. It took a long period of evolution for the British king to gradually lose his power. When we read the American Declaration of Independence, we will find that a lot of space is devoted to accusing King George of being bad, because the British king at that time still had certain power and could blame the king for all the bad things done by the British government. This cannot be done now, because the British king no longer has power, and any bad things done by the British government have nothing to do with him.

The power of the British king was basically gone during the reign of Queen Victoria, but one power was still retained at that time: if the election results showed that there was no majority party in the British Parliament and no leader of the majority party became prime minister, then in this special case, the king could invite the leader of a certain party to be prime minister and form a cabinet. This power was later lost. Now, if the election results show that there is no majority party in the British Parliament, who will be the prime minister is decided by the various parties through consultation and alliance, and one person is nominated as prime minister, and the British king does not participate.

Therefore, the current British king does not have any political power. Anything he does in the name of the government is done by the prime minister, the cabinet, cabinet ministers, and the parliament. For example, after the British law is passed by the parliament, it must be promulgated by the British king before it can take effect. However, as long as it is a law passed by the parliament, the British king must approve and promulgate it. In theory, he has the veto power, but in fact he no longer has this power. The last time the British king exercised the veto power was during the reign of Queen Anne, which was more than 300 years ago. No British king has exercised the veto power again.

Recorded on 2023.05.16

2024.07.06Edit