the queen

[squidgy plum]

hi, what power does the queen actually have?

i know this is a film but can anyone clarify something,
in Johnny english, pascal said the queen has the power to take any piece of land she wants.
is this true??

many thanks

[fredpuli47]

Why not? She owns it all already ! All the land in her realm is hers. She graciously allows us to hold some of it 'freehold' ,free of the claim of any other citizen to have it or occupy it.

In practice, of course, this is but a piece of legal history, a legal fiction.The only way Her Majesty gets it back from you is by Her Majesty's government doing so by compulsory purchase, with some compensation, under a bill made law when Her Majesty assented to it becoming law. Parliament and Her Majesty's government make the decisions and it's Parliament that has the real power in the land. Unless she has ambitions to suffer the same fate as Charles I (executed ) or James II (driven into exile) and has forgotten how William III came to the throne ( replacing James II, effectively on the invitation of Parliament, and on Parliament's terms), she'll neither interfere nor try to! In wartime Parliament may decide have laws to seize land, for the defence of the realm, but she won't be ordering it or doing it.She'll just give her assent to whatever bill is necessary to that end.

So the film was making a joke, one with a grain of historic truth, but a joke nonetheless.

[jake-the-peg]

A lot of the Queen's powers are in theory only - as noted above, attempts to exercise them would probably result in the end of the Monarchy.

For example she has the power to veto an act of parliament, but no monarch has done so since Queen Anne.

The most worrying power left she still has is to invite someone to form a Government.

Normally no big issue - winner of a General election, quick trip to Buck House - job done in time for tea.

However consider if there were no out right winner. Imagine Gordon Brown getting fewer seats than David Cameron but doing a deal with the LibDems which gives the combination a majority.

Now the Queen has real power and a real decision.

Such a decision should really be formulated in Law and removed in that way.

Of course she has immunity from prosecution but that is the case for most heads of state

[joggerjayne]

"The Queen"



Oh, sorry ... I thought we were raising a toast.

[R1Geezer]

it may not be law Jake but you can rely on common sense from her Maj. Their have been minority governements in the past, presumably the political deal is communicated in advance so she knows who to invite to form a governement.