The British Monarchy
The King doesn't need a passport or a driving licence. Passports are issued in his name, and as sovereign he is exempt from licensing. It's a small clue to a very old job.
Published
Quick Facts
- Current monarch
- King Charles III, who succeeded on 8 September 2022 and was crowned on 6 May 2023
- Type of system
- Constitutional monarchy: the King reigns, while elected politicians govern
- First king of England
- Æthelstan, in 927, who united the English kingdoms
- Crowns joined
- England and Scotland shared a monarch from 1603, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England
- Last refusal of royal assent
- Queen Anne, 1708, over the Scottish Militia Bill
- Coronation venue
- Westminster Abbey, used for coronations since 1066
- Other realms
- The King is also head of state of 14 other Commonwealth countries
- Official residences
- Include Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland
The head of state who needs no passport
British passports are issued in the monarch's name, so the monarch doesn't carry one. Driving licences aren't issued in his name, but as sovereign the King is exempt from needing one. Both are neat illustrations of how the Crown sits at the centre of the state. Today the monarchy is constitutional. The King is head of state, but he doesn't make laws or run the country. Parliament passes bills, the government governs, and the King gives royal assent, which is now a formality. The last monarch to refuse it was Queen Anne in 1708. The King does still have a role. He opens Parliament each year with the King's Speech, which the government writes. He appoints the Prime Minister, who is the person able to command a majority in the Commons. He also holds regular private audiences with the PM. He is head of the Commonwealth too, a family of 56 countries, and king of 14 of them besides the UK.
From Alfred's Wessex to a Parliament-approved Crown
The story starts with Anglo-Saxon kings. Alfred the Great held off the Vikings in the 800s, and his grandson Æthelstan became the first king of all England in 927. William the Conqueror then seized the throne in 1066 and was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. Almost every coronation since has taken place in the same building. Power and Parliament pulled against each other for centuries. Magna Carta in 1215 told King John he was not above the law. In 1649 Charles I was beheaded and Britain briefly had no monarch. The monarchy returned in 1660, and after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the Bill of Rights in 1689 made it clear that Parliament, not the Crown, held the final say. The Act of Settlement in 1701 then fixed who could inherit the throne. Even now, Parliament decides the rules of succession.
Why the Union Flag has no Welsh dragon
The Union Flag is a stack of saints' crosses. James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, and in 1606 he ordered the first Union Flag, combining the red cross of St George and the white saltire of St Andrew for use at sea. In 1801, when Ireland joined the union, the red saltire of St Patrick was added. Wales isn't there because it was legally absorbed into England long before. Edward I conquered the last Welsh princes in the 1280s, and the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 fully merged Wales into the English legal system. So Wales had no separate cross to add. The Royal Arms leave out Wales in the same way. The dragon wasn't ignored altogether, though. The Tudors, who came from Wales, used it as a royal symbol, and Henry VII flew it at Bosworth in 1485.
One Crown, four different relationships
In Scotland, the monarchy has its own regalia. The Honours of Scotland, a crown, sceptre and sword of state, sit in Edinburgh Castle and are among the oldest crown jewels in the British Isles. They were presented to Charles at St Giles' Cathedral on 5 July 2023. Scotland has also objected to royal numbering. In 1953 post boxes bearing the cypher EIIR were attacked in Scotland, because the first Elizabeth had been England's queen and not Scotland's. Scottish boxes have carried only the crown since. In Wales, the key link is the title Prince of Wales. Charles was invested as prince at Caernarfon Castle on 1 July 1969. His son William received the title in September 2022. Northern Ireland has Hillsborough Castle as the royal residence, where the monarch stays on visits. Religion matters differently across the nations too. The monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, while in Scotland the sovereign swears to uphold the Church of Scotland.
Swans, stones and two birthdays
The monarchy comes with a pile of odd traditions. The Crown has long claimed ownership of unmarked mute swans on open water, and each year the Thames still sees Swan Upping, when the swans are counted. The Stone of Scone has the best story. Scottish kings were inaugurated on it for centuries. Edward I seized it in 1296 and had it fitted beneath the coronation chair at Westminster. On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students took it from the Abbey. It was officially returned to Scotland in 1996, and in 2023 it travelled back to London for Charles's coronation before returning north. And like many monarchs, the King has two birthdays: his real one in November, and an official one marked in June by Trooping the Colour, which was chosen because the weather is more reliable.
Notable people
- King Charles III
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Alfred the Great
- Æthelstan
- William the Conqueror
- Edward I
- Henry VII
- James VI and I
- Charles I
- Queen Anne
- Prince William
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