# UK Constitution and Government/Plantagenets

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`<big>`{=html}`<big>`{=html}The Plantagenets
(1154-1399)`</big>`{=html}`</big>`{=html}

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## Henry II

With the death of King Stephen, Henry Plantagenet took the throne as
King Henry II. He already had control over the duchy of Normandy; he had
also inherited Anjou from his father Geoffrey. Furthermore, he acquired
many territories from his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry thus had a
vast territory when he came to the throne; as King of England, he took
over Ireland.

Henry II made other remarkable achievements in England. He established
courts throughout England and introduced trial by jury. Furthermore, he
reduced the power of ecclesiastical courts. The Archbishop of Canterbury
and Lord High Chancellor, Thomas à Becket, opposed the King\'s attempt
to take power from the Church. At a confrontation between the two in
1170, Henry II famously said, \"Who will rid me of this turbulent
priest?\" Four of his knights took him literally, and in December
murdered Becket.

Henry, however, did not have good relations with his sons. In 1170, his
eldest son Henry was crowned, and is known as Henry the Young King. In
1173, the Young King and his brothers revolted against Henry II,
planning to dethrone him and leave the Young King as the sole ruler in
England. In 1174, the revolt failed, and all of the brothers
surrendered. Later, in 1189, Henry II\'s third son, Richard, attacked
and defeated him. Henry II died days after his defeat, and Richard,
nicknamed \"the Lionheart,\" became King.

## Richard I

Richard the Lionheart is often portrayed as a hero, but he did not do
much for England. In fact, he spent almost all of his time outside the
nation, and did not even find it necessary to learn English. He is most
famous for his fighting in the Crusades, a holy war seeking to assert
Christian dominance over Jerusalem.

## John

Richard\'s successor was his brother, John Allin. Henry II had granted
John the lands of Ireland, so when John came to the throne, the titles
Lord of Ireland and King of England were united. However, though Ireland
became a dominion of the Crown, several lands on the Continent,
including most of Normandy, were lost during John\'s reign.

King John was very unpopular with the nation\'s magnates, the barons,
whom he taxed. A particularly resented tax was the scutage, a penalty
paid by barons who failed to supply the King with military resources. In
1215, after John had been defeated in France, several barons rebelled.
Later in that year, John compromised and signed the *Magna Carta*, or
Great Charter. It guaranteed political liberties and provided for a
church free from domination by the monarchy. These liberties and
privileges, however, were not extended to the common man; rather, they
were granted to the barons. Nonetheless, the document is immensely
significant in English constitutional history as it is a major
indication of a limitation on the power of the Crown.

King John, however, broke the provisions of the Charter later, claiming
that he agreed to it under duress. In the next year, when he was
retreating from a French invasion, John lost England\'s most valuable
treasures - the Crown Jewels - in a marsh known as The Wash. His mental
and physical health deteriorated, and he later died from dysentery.

## Henry III

John was succeeded by his son, Henry, who was only nine years old. Henry
III, despite a reign that lasted over half a century, is not a
particularly memorable or noteworthy monarch. Nonetheless, a very
significant political development occurred during Henry III\'s reign. In
1258, one of Henry\'s opponents, Simon de Montfort, called a Parliament,
the forerunner of the modern institution. It, however, bears little
resemblance to the modern body, as it had little power.

Simon de Montfort, who was married to Henry III\'s sister, defeated and
imprisoned his brother-in-law in 1264. He was originally supported by
Henry\'s son Edward, but the latter later returned to his father\'s
side. Edward defeated de Montfort in 1265 at the Battle of Evesham and
restored Henry III. In 1270, the ageing Henry gave up most of power to
his son; two years later, he died, and Edward succeeded to the throne.

## Edward I

Edward I was the monarch who brought the entire British Isles under
English domination. In order to raise money in the war against the
rebellious Wales, Edward instituted a tax on Jewish moneylenders. The
tax, however, was too high for the moneylenders, who eventually became
too poor to pay. Edward accused them of disloyalty and abolished the
right of Jews to lend money. He also ordered that all Jews wear a yellow
star on their clothing; that idea was later adopted by Adolf Hitler in
Germany. Edward also executed hundreds of Jews, and in 1290 banished all
of them from England.

In 1291, the Scottish nobility agreed to submit to Edward. When Queen
Margaret I died, the nobles allowed Edward to choose between the rival
claimants to the throne. Edward installed the weak John Balliol as
monarch, and easily dominated Scotland. The Scots, however, rebelled.
Edward I executed the chief dissenter, William Wallace, further
antagonising Scotland.

## Edward II

When Edward I died in 1307, his son Edward became King. Edward II
abandoned his father\'s ambitions to conquer Scotland. Furthermore, he
recalled several men his father had banished. The barons, however,
rebelled against Edward. In 1312, Edward agreed to hand over power to a
committee of barons known as \"ordainers.\" These ordainers removed the
power of representatives of commoners to advise the monarch on new laws,
and concentrated all power in the nobility. Meanwhile, Robert the Bruce
was slowly reconquering Scotland. In 1314, Robert\'s forces defeated
England\'s in battle, and Robert gained control over most of Scotland.

In 1321, the ordainers banished a baron allied with the King, Hugh le
Despencer, along with his son. In 1322, Edward reacted by recalling them
and attacking the barons. He executed the leader of the ordainers, the
Earl of Lancaster, and permitted the Despencers to rule England. The
Despencers declared that all statutes created by the ordainers were
invalid, and that thereafter, no law would be valid unless it had
received the assent of the Commons, representatives of the commoners of
England. However, the Despencers became corrupt, causing them to be very
unpopular, even with Edward\'s own wife, Isabella. In 1325, Isabella
went to France, and in 1326, she returned, allied with Roger Mortimer,
one of the barons Edward had defeated. The two killed the Despencers and
forced Edward to resign his crown to his son, also named Edward. Edward
II was imprisoned and later killed.

## Edward III

Since Edward III was a child, Isabella and Roger Mortimer ruled England
in his stead. When Edward III became eighteen, however, he had Mortimer
executed and banished his mother from court. In 1328, when Charles IV,
Isabella\'s father and King of France, died, Edward claimed France,
suggesting that the kingdom should pass to him through his mother. His
claim was opposed by Philip VI, who claimed that the throne could only
pass in the male line. Edward declared war on Philip, setting off the
Hundred Years\' War. The British claim to the French throne was not
abandoned until the nineteenth century.

## Richard II

Richard II succeeded his grandfather, Edward III, in 1377. Richard II
was only about ten years old when coming to the throne. Even as an
adult, Richard II was a rather weak king. In 1399, he was deposed by his
cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, and probably murdered the next year.


# UK Constitution and Government/Houses of Lancaster and York

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## Henry IV

Henry of Bolingbroke deposed his weak cousin, Richard II, in 1399. Henry
IV\'s reign was marked by widespread rebellion. These were put down
thanks to the great military skill of the Henry IV\'s son, the future
King Henry V. Henry IV died in 1413 while plagued by a severe skin
disease (possibly leprosy).

## Henry V

Henry V\'s reign was markedly different from his father\'s in that it
involved little domestic turmoil. Overseas, Henry V\'s armies won
several important victories in France. In 1415, the English defeated the
French King Charles VI decisively at the Battle of Agincourt. About 100
English soldiers were killed, along with about 5000 Frenchmen.

For the next two years, Henry V conducted delicate diplomacy to improve
England\'s chances of conquering France. He negotiated with the Holy
Roman Emperor Sigismund, who agreed to end the German alliance with
France. In 1417, the war was renewed; by 1419, English troops were about
to take Paris. The parties agreed to a treaty whereby Henry V was named
heir of France. Henry V, however, died before he could succeed to the
French throne, which therefore remained in the hands of the Frenchmen.

## Henry VI and Edward IV

!Figure 3-1: Edward IV (left) and the future Edward V
(centre) and the future Edward V (centre)")

Henry VI succeeded to the throne while still an infant. His uncles, the
Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, both functioned as Regents. During his
reign, many French territories won during the Hundred Years War were
lost.

Henry VI\'s reign was interrupted by Edward IV\'s due to the War of the
Roses. Henry VI was a member of the House of Lancaster, while Edward IV
was from the House of York. The former House descended from Henry of
Bolingbroke, the fourth son of King Edward III; the latter House
descended from Edmund of Langley, Edward III\'s fifth son.

In 1461, the Lancastrians lost to the Yorkists at the Battle of Towton.
The Yorkist claimant, Edward IV, ascended to the throne, with the
support of the powerful nobleman Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick,
known by the nickname *Warwick the Kingmaker*. In 1464, Lancastrian
revolts were put down. In 1469, however, Warwick the Kingmaker switched
his allegiance, and in 1470, Henry VI was restored to the throne. The
exiled Edward, however, soon returned and defeated Henry\'s forces. At
the Battle of Tewkesbury, the remaining Lancastrians were defeated;
Henry VI was also murdered.

## Edward V and Richard III

Edward IV was succeeded by his twelve year-old son in 1483. Edward IV\'s
brother, Richard, was made guardian of Edward V and his brother, also
named Richard. The young King\'s uncle usurped the throne and had
Parliament declare the two brothers illegitimate. The two princes were
then imprisoned in the Tower of London, where they might have been
killed (their fate, however, is not certain).

In 1485, Richard III faced Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian claimant, at the
Battle of Bosworth Field, during which Richard became the last English
monarch to be killed during battle. Henry came to power as Henry VII,
establishing the Tudor Dynasty.

ms:Perlembagaan dan Kerajaan United Kingdom: Dewan Lancaster dan
York


# UK Constitution and Government/House of Tudor

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## Henry VII

Henry VII was one of the most successful monarchs in British history. He
was the Lancastrian claimant to the throne and lived in France so as to
remain safe from the designs of the Yorkist Kings. At the Battle of
Bosworth Field in 1485, he defeated and killed the Yorkist Richard III.
His claim was weak due to questions relating to the legitimacy of
certain births, but he was nonetheless awarded the throne.

Henry reformed the nation\'s taxation system and refilled the nation\'s
treasury, which had been bankrupted by the fiscal irresponsibility of
his predecessors. He also made peace with France so that the resources
of the nation would not be spent trying to regain territories won during
the Hundred Years\' War. Henry also created marital alliances with Spain
and Scotland. Henry\'s son, Arthur, married Catherine of Aragon,
daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
Furthermore, Henry\'s daughter Margaret married James IV, King of Scots.

When Henry\'s son Arthur died, he wished to protect the Anglo-Spanish
alliance. Therefore, he obtained a dispensation from Pope Julius II
allowing Henry\'s son, also named Henry, to marry Catherine. (Papal
permission was necessary since Henry was marrying his brother\'s widow.)
Upon Henry VII\'s death, Henry took the throne as Henry VIII.

## Henry VIII

King Henry VIII is often remembered for his multiple marriages. In his
quest to obtain a male heir to the throne, Henry married six different
times. His first marriage, as noted above, was to his brother\'s widow,
Catherine of Aragon. That marriage occurred in 1509 and was scarred by
several tragedies involving their children. The couple\'s first child
was stillborn, their second lived for just 52 days, the third pregnancy
ended as a miscarriage and the product of the fourth pregnancy died soon
after birth. In 1516, the couple had a daughter, named Mary, followed by
another miscarriage. Henry was growing impatient with his wife and
eagerly sought a male heir.

Henry sought to annul his marriage to Catherine. Ecclesiastic law
permitted a man to marry his brother\'s widow only if the previous
marriage had not been consummated. Catherine had informed the Pope that
her marriage was non-consummate, so the Pope agreed to grant a
dispensation allowing her to marry Henry. Now, however, Henry alleged
that Catherine had lied, thereby rendering her marriage to him invalid.
In 1533, an Act of Parliament annulled his marriage to Catherine,
enabling him to marry Anne Boleyn. It was felt by many, however, that
the Church, and not Parliament, could govern marriages. Henry had asked
Pope Clement VII to issue a divorce several times. Under pressure from
Catherine\'s nephew, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Pope refused.
Parliament therefore passed an Act denying appeals to Rome from certain
decisions of English Archbishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas
Cranmer, annulled Henry\'s marriage to Catherine. In response, the Pope
excommunicated Henry. Soon, the Church of England separated from the
Roman Catholic Church. In 1534, all appeals to Rome from the decisions
of the English clergy were stopped. An Act of Parliament passed in 1536
confirmed the King\'s position as *Supreme Head of the Church of
England*, thereby ending any ceremonial influence that the Pope still
had.

Anne Boleyn, meanwhile, was Henry\'s Queen, and the only surviving child
from the marriage to Catherine, Mary, was declared illegitimate. Anne\'s
first child, Elizabeth, was born in 1533. The next three pregnancies,
however, all resulted in stillbirth or miscarriage. A dissatisfied Henry
accused Anne of using witchcraft to entice him to marry her and to have
five men enter into adulterous affairs with her. Furthermore, Anne was
accused of treason because she had supposedly committed adultery while
she was Queen. Anne\'s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled and she was
executed at the Tower of London in 1536.

Within two weeks of Anne\'s death, Henry married Jane Seymour. In 1537,
Jane produced the male heir that Henry had long desired. The boy was
named Edward and would later succeed Henry to the throne. Meanwhile, his
half-sister Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Shortly after the birth
of the child, Jane died. Jane was followed as Queen by Anne of Cleeves,
whom Henry married in 1540. Anne was the daughter of John III, Duke of
Cleeves. Henry did not actually see Anne until shortly before their
marriage; the relationship was contracted to establish an alliance
between Henry and the Duke of Cleeves, a major Protestant leader. After
Anne married him, Henry found her physically displeasing and
unattractive. Shortly thereafter, the marriage was annulled on the
grounds that Anne had previously been engaged to the Duke of Lorraine.
After her divorce, Anne was treated well. She was given the title of
Princess and allowed to live in Hever Castle, the former home of Anne
Boleyn\'s family.

Henry VIII\'s next marriage was to Catherine Howard, an Englishwoman of
noble birth. In 1542, she was charged and convicted of high treason
after having admitted to being engaged in an adulterous affair. In 1543,
Henry contracted his final marriage, wedding Catherine Parr. The
marriage lasted for the remainder of Henry\'s life, which ended in 1547.

## Edward VI and Lady Jane Grey

When Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, came to the throne,
he was just ten years old. His uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset
served as Lord Protector while the King was a minor. Several nobles
attempted to take over Somerset\'s role. John Dudley, 1st Earl of
Warwick was successful; he was later created Duke of Northumberland.

Edward VI was the first Protestant King of England. His father had
broken away from the Roman Catholic Church but had not yet embraced
Protestantism. Edward, however, was brought up Protestant. He sought to
exclude his Catholic half-sister Mary from the line of succession. As he
was dying at the age of fifteen, he made a document barring his
half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the throne. He named the Lady Jane
Grey, daughter-in-law of the Duke of Northumberland, his successor. Her
claim to the throne was through her mother, who was a granddaughter of
King Henry VII. Jane was proclaimed Queen upon Edward\'s death in 1553,
but she served for only nine days before being deposed by Mary. Mary
enjoyed far more popular support; the public also sympathised with the
way her mother, Catherine of Aragon, had been treated. Jane was soon
executed. She was seventeen years old at the time.

## Mary I

Mary was deeply opposed to her father\'s break from the Church in Rome.
She sought to reverse reforms instituted by her Protestant half-brother.
Mary even resorted to violence in her attempt to restore Catholicism,
earning her the nickname *Bloody Mary*. She executed several
Protestants, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas
Cranmer, on charges of heresy.

In 1554, Mary married the Catholic King of Spain, Philip II. The
marriage was unpopular in England, even with Catholic subjects. The
couple were unable to produce a child before Mary\'s death from cancer
in 1558.

## Elizabeth I

Mary\'s successor, her half-sister Elizabeth, was one of the most
successful and popular British monarchs. The Elizabethan era was
associated with cultural development and the expansion of English
territory through colonialism.

After coming to power, Elizabeth quickly reversed many of Mary\'s
policies. Elizabeth reinstated the Church of England and had Parliament
pass the Act of Supremacy, which confirmed the Sovereign\'s position as
Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Act also forced public
and clerical officers to take the Oath of Supremacy recognising the
Sovereign\'s position. Elizabeth, however, did practice limited
toleration towards Catholics.

After Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, Elizabeth ended her
policy of religious toleration. One of Elizabeth\'s chief Catholic
enemies was the Queen of Scotland, Mary. Since Elizabeth neither married
nor bore any children, her cousin Mary was a possible heir to the
English throne. Another possible heir was Lady Jane Grey\'s sister,
Catherine. However, when Lady Catherine Grey died in 1568, Elizabeth was
forced to consider that Catholic Mary was the most likely heir. Mary,
however, had earlier been deposed by Scottish nobles, putting her infant
son James on the throne. Mary had fled to England, hoping Elizabeth
would aid her efforts to regain the Scottish throne, but Elizabeth
reconsidered after learning of the \"Ridolfi Plot\", a scheme to
assassinate Elizabeth and put the Roman Catholic Mary on the English
throne. In 1572, Parliament passed a bill to exclude Mary from the line
of succession, but Elizabeth refused to grant Royal Assent to it.
Eventually, however, Mary proved to be too much of a liability due to
her constant involvement in plots to murder Elizabeth. In 1587, she was
executed after having been convicted of being involved in one such plot.

Following Mary\'s execution, Philip II (widower of Mary I of England)
sent a fleet of Spanish ships known as the *Armada* to invade England.
England had supported a Protestant rebellion in the Netherlands and was
seen as a threat to Catholicism. Furthermore, England had interfered
with Spanish shipping and trade. Using Mary\'s execution as an excuse,
Philip II obtained the Pope\'s authority to depose Elizabeth. In 1588,
the Spanish Armada set sail for England. Harmed by bad weather, the
Armada was defeated by Elizabeth\'s naval leaders, including Sir Francis
Drake and the Lord Howard of Effingham.

Towards the end of her life, Elizabeth still failed to name an heir.
When she died, she was ironically succeeded by the son of Mary, Queen of
Scots, James. James was already James VI, King of Scots; he became James
I of England in 1603 and established the rule of the Stuart dynasty.


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## James I

!James I of England With the
death of Elizabeth in 1603, the Crowns of England and Scotland united
under James I. In 1567, when he was just a year old, James\' mother Mary
was forced to abdicate, and James became King James VI. Despite his
mother\'s Catholicism, James was brought up as a Protestant.

One of James\' first acts as King was to conclude English involvement in
the Eighty Years\' War, also called the Dutch Revolt. Elizabeth had
supported the Protestant Dutch rebels, providing one cause for Philip
II\'s attack. In 1604, James signed the Treaty of London, thereby making
peace with Spain.

James had significant difficulty with the English Parliamentary
structure. As King of Scots, he had not been accustomed to criticism
from the Parliament. James firmly believed in the *Divine Right of
Kings*---the right of Kings to rule that supposedly came from God---so
he did not easily react to critics in Parliament. Under English law,
however, it was impossible for the King to levy taxes without
Parliament\'s consent, so he had to tolerate Parliament for some time.

King James died in 1625 and was succeeded by his son Charles.

## Charles I

King Charles ruled at a time when Europe was moving toward domination by
absolute monarchs. The French ruler, Louis XIV, epitomised this
absolutism. Charles, sharing his father\'s belief in the Divine Right of
Kings, also moved toward absolutist policies.

Charles conflicted with Parliament over the issue of the Huguenots,
French Protestants. Louis XIV had begun a persecution of the Huguenots;
Charles sent an expedition to La Rochelle to provide aid to the
Protestant residents. The effort, however, was disastrous, prompting
Parliament to further criticise him. In 1628, the House of Commons
issued the Petition of Right, which demanded that Charles cease his use
of arbitrary power. Charles had persecuted individuals using the Court
of the Star Chamber, a secret court that could impose any penalty, even
torture, except for death. Charles had also imprisoned individuals
without a trial and denied them the right to the writ of *habeas
corpus*. The Petition of Right, however, was not successful; in 1629,
Charles dissolved Parliament. He ruled alone for the next eleven years,
which is sometimes referred to as the *eleven years of tyranny* or
*personal rule*. Since Parliamentary approval was required to impose
taxes, Charles had grave difficulty in keeping the government
functional. Charles imposed several taxes himself; these were widely
seen as unlawful.

During these eleven years, Charles began instituting religious reforms
in Scotland, moving it towards the English model. He attempted to impose
the Anglican Prayer Book on Scottish churches, leading to riots and
violence. In 1638, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
abolished the office of bishop and established Presbyterianism (an
ecclesiastic system without clerical officers such as bishops and
archbishops). Charles sent his armies to Scotland, but was quickly
forced to end the conflict, known as the First Bishops\' War, because of
a lack of funding. Charles granted Scotland certain parliamentary and
ecclesiastic freedoms in 1639.

In 1640, Charles finally called a Parliament to authorise additional
taxation. Since the Parliament was dissolved within weeks of its
summoning, it was known as the *Short Parliament*. Charles then sent a
new military expedition to Scotland to fight the Second Bishops\' War.
Again, the Royal forces were defeated. Charles then summoned Parliament
again, this Parliament becoming known as the *Long Parliament*, in order
to raise funds for making reparations to the Scots.

Tension between Charles and Parliament increased dramatically. Charles
agreed to abolish the hated Star Chamber, but he refused to give up
control of the army. In 1641, Charles entered the House of Commons with
armed guards in order to arrest his Parliamentary enemies. They had
already fled, however, and Parliament took the breach of their premises
very seriously. (Since Charles, no English monarch has sought to set
foot in the House of Commons.)

The unsafe monarch moved the Royal court to Oxford. Royal forces
controlled north and west England, while Parliament controlled south and
east England. A Civil War broke out, but was indecisive until 1644, when
Parliamentary forces clearly gained the upper hand. In 1646, Charles was
forced to escape to Scotland, but the Scottish army delivered him to
Parliament in 1647. Charles was then imprisoned. Charles negotiated with
the Scottish army, declaring that if it restored him to power, he would
implement the Scottish Presbyterian ecclesiastic model in England. In
1648, the Scots invaded England, but were defeated.

The House of Commons began to pass laws without the consent of either
the Sovereign or the House of Lords, but many MPs still wished to come
to terms with the king. Members of the army, however, felt that Charles
had gone too far by siding with the Scots against England and were
determined to have him brought to trial. In December 1648 an army
regiment, Colonel Pride\'s, used force to bar entry into the House of
Commons, only allowing MPs who would support the army to remain. These
MPs, the *Rump Parliament*, established a commission of 135 to try
Charles for treason. Charles, an ardent believer in the Divine Right of
Kings, refused to accept the jurisdiction of any court over him.
Therefore, he was by default considered guilty of high treason and was
executed on January 30, 1649.

## Oliver and Richard Cromwell

At first, Oliver Cromwell ruled along with the republican Parliament,
the state being known as the *Commonwealth of England*. After Charles\'
execution, however, Parliament became disunited. In 1653, he suspended
Parliament, and as Charles had done earlier, began several years of rule
as a dictator. Later, Parliament was recalled, and in 1657 offered to
make Cromwell the King. Since he faced opposition from his own senior
military officers, Cromwell declined. Instead, he was made a *Lord
Protector*, even being installed on the former King\'s throne. He was a
King in all but name.

Cromwell died in 1658 and was succeeded by his son Richard, an extremely
poor politician. Richard Cromwell was not interested in his position and
abdicated quickly. The Protectorate was ended and the Commonwealth
restored. Anarchy was the result. Quickly, Parliament chose to
reestablish the monarchy by inviting Charles I\'s son to take the throne
as Charles II.

## Charles II

During the rule of Oliver Cromwell, Charles II remained King in
Scotland. After an unsuccessful challenge to Cromwell\'s rule, Charles
escaped to Europe. In 1660, when England was in anarchy, Charles issued
the Declaration of Breda, outlining his conditions for returning to the
Throne. The Long Parliament, which had been convened in 1640, finally
dissolved itself. A new Parliament, called the *Convention Parliament*,
was elected; it was far more favourable to the Royalty than the Long
Parliament. In May 1660, the Convention Parliament that Charles had been
the lawful King of England since the death of his father in 1649.
Charles soon arrived in London and was restored to actual power. Charles
granted a general pardon to most of Cromwell\'s supporters. Those who
had directly participated in his father\'s execution, however, were
either executed or imprisoned for life. Cromwell himself suffered a
posthumous execution: his body was exhumed, hung, drawn and quartered,
his head cut off and displayed from a pole and the remainder of his body
thrown into a common pit. The posthumous execution took place on the
anniversary of Charles I\'s death.

Charles also dissolved the Convention Parliament. The next Parliament,
called the *Cavalier Parliament* was soon elected. The Cavalier
Parliament lasted for seventeen years without an election before being
dissolved. During its long tenure, the Cavalier Parliament enacted
several important laws, including many that suppressed religious
dissent. The Act of Uniformity required the use of the Church of
England\'s *Book of Common Prayer* in all Church services. The
Conventicle Act prohibited religious assemblies of more than five
members except under the Church of England. The Five Mile Act banned
non-members of the Church of England from living in towns with a Royal
Charter, instead forcing them into the country. In 1672, Charles
mitigated these laws with the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, which
provided for religious toleration. Parliament, however, suspected him of
Catholicism and forced him to withdraw the Declaration. In 1673,
Parliament passed the Test Act, which required civil servants to swear
an oath against Catholicism.

Parliament\'s suspicions did turn out to be accurate. As Charles II lay
dying in 1685, he converted to Catholicism. Charles did not have a
single legitimate child, though he did have, while living in Europe,
several illegitimate ones (over 300 by some estimates). He was
succeeded, therefore, by his younger brother James, an open Catholic.

## James II

James II (James VII in Scotland) was an extremely controversial monarch
due to his Catholicism. Soon after he took power, a Protestant
illegitimate son of Charles II, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth,
proclaimed himself King. James II defeated him within a few days and had
him executed.

James made himself highly unpopular by appointing Catholic officials,
especially in Ireland. Later, he established a standing army in
peacetime, alarming many Protestants. Rebellion, however, did not occur
because people trusted James\' daughter Mary, a Protestant. In 1688,
however, James produced a son, who was brought up Catholic. Since
Mary\'s place in the line of succession was lowered, and a Catholic
Dynasty in England seemed ineveitable, the \"Immortal Seven\"---the Duke
of Devonshire, the Earl of Danby, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Viscount
Lumley, the Bishop of London, Edward Russell and Henry
Sidney---conspired to replace James and his son with Mary and her Dutch
husband William of Orange. In 1688, William and Mary invaded England and
James fled the country. The revolution was hailed as the *Glorious
Revolution* or the *Bloodless Revolution*. Though the latter term was
inaccurate, the revolution was not as violent as the War of the Roses or
the English Civil War.

## William and Mary

Parliament wished then to make Mary the sole Queen. She, however,
refused and demanded that she be made co-Sovereign with her husband. In
1689, the Parliament of England declared in the English Bill of Rights,
one of the most significant constitutional documents in British history,
that James\' flight constituted an abdication of the throne and that the
throne should go jointly to William (William III) and Mary (Mary II).
The Bill of Rights also required that the Sovereign cannot deny certain
rights, such as freedom of speech in Parliament, freedom from taxation
without Parliament\'s consent and freedom from cruel and unusual
punishment. In Scotland, the Estates General passed a similar Act,
called the Claim of Right, which also made William and Mary joint
rulers. In Ireland, power had to be won in battle. In 1690, the English
won the Battle of the Boyne, thereby establishing William and Mary\'s
rule over the entire British Isles.

For the early part of the reign, Mary administered the Government while
William controlled the military. Unpopularly, William appointed people
from his native Holland as officers in the English army and Royal Navy.
Furthermore, he used English military resources to protect the
Netherlands. In 1694, after the death of Queen Mary from smallpox,
William continued to rule as the sole Sovereign.

Since William and Mary did not have children, William\'s heir was Anne,
who had seventeen pregnancies, most of which ended in stillbirth. In
1700, Anne\'s last surviving child, William, died at the age of eleven.
Parliament was faced with a succession crisis, because after Anne, many
in the line of succession were Catholic. Therefore, in 1701, the Act of
Settlement was passed, allowing Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of
Hanover (a German state), and her Protestant heirs, to succeed if Anne
had no further children. Sophia\'s claim stemmed from her
great-grandfather, James I. Several lines that were more senior to
Sophia\'s were bypassed under the act. Some of these had questionable
legitimacy, while others were Catholic. The Act of Settlement also
banned non-Protestants and those who married Catholics from the throne.

In 1702, William died, and his sister-in-law Anne became Queen.

## Anne

Even following the passage of the Act of Settlement, Protestant
succession to the throne was insecure in Scotland. In 1703, the Scottish
Parliament, the Estates, passed a bill that required that, if Anne died
without children, the Estates could appoint any Protestant descendant of
Scottish monarchs as the King. The individual appointed could not be the
same person who would, under the Act of Settlement, succeed to the
English crown unless several economic conditions were met. The Queen\'s
Commissioner refused Royal Assent on her behalf. The Scottish Estates
then threatened to withdraw Scottish troops from the Queen\'s armies,
which were then engaged in the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe
and Queen Anne\'s War in North America. The Estates also threatened to
refuse to levy taxes, so Anne relented and agreed to grant Royal Assent
to the bill, which became the Act of Security.

The English Parliament feared the separation of the Crowns which had
been united since the death of Elizabeth I. They therefore attempted to
coerce Scotland, passing the Alien Act in 1705. The Alien Act provided
for cutting off trade between England and Scotland. Scotland was already
suffering from the failure of the Darién Scheme, a disastrous and
expensive attempt to establish Scottish colonies in America. Scotland
quickly began to negotiate union with England. In 1707, the Act of Union
was passed, despite mass protest in Scotland, by Parliament and the
Scottish Estates. The Act combined England and Scotland into one Kingdom
of Great Britain, terminated the Parliament and Estates, and replaced
them with one Parliament of Great Britain. Scotland was entitled to
elect a certain number of members of the House of Commons. Furthermore,
it was permitted to send sixteen of its peers to sit along with all
English peers in the House of Lords. The Act guaranteed Scotland the
right to retain its distinct legal system. The Church of Scotland was
also guaranteed independence from political interference. Ireland
remained a separate country, though still governed by the British
Sovereign.

Anne is often remembered as the last British monarch to deny Royal
Assent to a bill, which she did in 1707 to a militia bill. Due to her
poor health, made worse by her failed pregnancies, her government was
run through her ministers. She died in 1714, to be succeeded by George,
Elector of Hanover, whose mother Sophia had died a few weeks earlier.


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## George I

!King George I George, Duke
and Elector of Hanover became King George I in 1714. His claim was
opposed by the Jacobites, supporters of the deposed King James II. Since
James II had died, his claim was taken over by his son, James Francis
Edward Stewart, the \"Old Pretender.\" In 1715, there was a Jacobite
rebellion, but an ill James could not lead it. By the time he recovered,
it was too late, and the rebellion was suppressed.

King George was not deeply involved in British politics; instead, he
concentrated on matters in his home, Germany. The King could not even
speak English, earning the ridicule of many of his subjects. George,
furthermore, spent much time in his native land of Hanover. Meanwhile, a
ministerial system developed in Great Britain. George appointed Sir
Robert Walpole as *First Lord of the Treasury*. Walpole was George\'s
most powerful minister, but he was not termed \"Prime Minister\"; that
term came into use in later years. Walpole\'s tenure began in 1721;
other ministers held office at his, rather than the King\'s, pleasure.
George\'s lack of involvement in politics contributed greatly to the
development of the modern British political system.

George died in 1727 from a stroke while in Germany. He was succeeded by
his son, who ruled as George II.

## George II

George II was naturalised as a British citizen in 1705; his reign began
in 1727. Like his father, George transferred political power to Sir
Robert Walpole, who served until 1742. Walpole was succeeded by Spencer
Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, who served until 1743, and then by
Henry Pelham, who served until his death in 1754. During Pelham\'s
service, the nation experienced a second Jacobite Rebellion, which was
almost successful in putting Bonnie Prince Charlie---son of the Old
Pretender, himself called the Young Pretender---on the throne. The
rebellion began in 1745 and was ended in 1746 when the King\'s forces
defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden, the last battle ever
to be fought on British soil.

Before George II\'s death in 1760, he was served by two other Prime
Ministers: Henry Pelham\'s elder brother the Duke of Newcastle, and the
Duke of Devonshire. George II\'s eldest son, Frederick, had predeceased
him, so George was succeeded by his grandson, also named George.

## George III

George III attempted to reverse the trend that his Hanoverian
predecessors had set by reducing the influence of the Prime Minister. He
appointed a variety of different people as his Prime Minister, on the
basis of favouritism rather than ability. The Whig Party of Robert
Walpole declared George an autocrat and compared him to Charles I.

George III\'s reign is notable for many important international events.
In 1763, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years\' War, a
global war that also involved Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands and
was fought in Europe, America and India. As a result of the Treaty of
Paris, New France (the French territory in North America, including
Quebec and land east of the Mississippi) was ceded to Britain, as was
Spanish Florida. Spain, however, took New Orleans and Louisiana, the
vast French territory on the west of the Mississippi. Great Britain came
to be recognised as the world\'s pre-eminent colonial power, displacing
France. The nation, however, was left deeply in debt. To overcome it,
British colonies in America were taxed, much to their distaste.
Eventually, Britain lost its American colonies during the American War
of Independence, which lasted from 1776 to 1783. Elsewhere, however, the
British Empire continued to expand. In India, the British East India
Company took control of many small nation-states nominally headed by
their own princes. The island of Australia was also occupied, and
Canada\'s population increased with the number of British Loyalists who
left the newly formed United States of America.

In 1801, Parliament passed the Act of Union, uniting Great Britain and
Ireland into the United Kingdom. Ireland was allowed to elect 100
Members of Parliament to the House of Commons and 22 representative
peers to the House of Lords. The Act originally provided for the removal
of restrictions from Roman Catholics, but George III refused to agree to
the proposal, arguing that doing so would violate his oath to maintain
Protestantism.

George was the last British monarch to claim the Kingdom of France. He
was persuaded to abandon the meaningless claim dating to the Plantagenet
days in 1801 by the French ruler Napoleon.

In 1811, George III, who had previously suffered bouts of madness, went
permanantly insane. His son George ruled the country as *Prince Regent*,
and became George IV when the King died in 1820.

## George IV

George IV is often remembered as an unwise and extravagant monarch.
During his Regency, London was redesigned, and funding for the arts was
increased. As King, George was unable to govern effectively; he was
overweight, possibly addicted to a form of opium and showing signs of
his father\'s mental disease. While he ruled, George\'s ministers were
once again able to regain the power that they had lost during his
father\'s reign.

George opposed several popular social reforms. As his father, he refused
to lift several restrictions on Roman Catholics. Upon his death in 1830,
his younger brother began to reign as William IV.

## William IV

Early in William\'s reign, British politics was reformed by the Reform
Act of 1832. At the time, the House of Commons was a disorganised and
undemocratic body, unlike the modern House. The nation included several
*rotten boroughs*, which historically had the right to elect members of
Parliament, but actually had very few residents. The rotten borough of
Old Sarum, for instance, had seven voters, but could elect two MPs. An
even more extreme example is of Dunwich, which could also elect two MPs
despite having no residents, the entire borough having been eroded away
into the North Sea. Other boroughs were called *pocket boroughs* because
they were \"in the pocket\" of a wealthy landowner, whose son was
normally elected to the seat. At the same time, entire cities such as
Westminster (with about 20,000 voters) still had just two MPs.

The House of Commons agreed to the Reform Bill, but it was rejected by
the House of Lords, whose members controlled several pocket boroughs.
The Tory Party, furthermore, opposed the bill actively. William IV
agreed with his Prime Minister, the Earl Grey, to flood the House of
Lords with pro-reform members by creating fifty new peerages; when the
time came, he backed down. The Earl Grey and his Whig Party government
then resigned, but returned to power when William finally agreed to
co-operate. The Reform Act of 1832 gave urban areas increased political
power, but allowed aristocrats to retain effective control of the rural
areas. Over fifty rotten boroughs were abolished, while the
representation of some other boroughs was reduced from two MPs to one.
Though members of the middle class were granted the right to vote, the
Reform Act did not do much to expand the electorate, which amounted
after passage to just three percent of the population.

In 1834, William became the last British monarch to appoint a Prime
Minister who did not have the confidence of Parliament. He replaced the
Whig Prime Minister, the Viscount Melbourne, with a Tory, Sir Robert
Peel. Peel, however, had a minority in the House of Commons, so he
resigned in 1835, and Melbourne returned to power.

In 1837, William died and was succeeded on the British throne by his
niece Victoria, who was just eighteen years old at the time. The union
of the Crowns of Britain and Hanover was then dissolved, since Salic
Law, which applied in Hanover, only allowed males to rule. Therefore,
Hanover passed to William\'s brother Ernest.

## Victoria

!Queen Victoria A few years
after taking power, Victoria married a German Prince, Albert of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was given the title of *Prince Consort*. Albert
originally wished to actively govern the United Kingdom, but he
acquiesced to his wife\'s requests to the contrary. The extremely happy
marriage ended with Albert\'s death in 1861, following which Victoria
entered a period of semi-mourning that would last for the rest of her
reign. She was often called *the Widow of Windsor*, after Windsor
Castle, a Royal home.

In 1867, Parliament passed another Reform Act. Like its predecessor, the
Reform Act of 1832, true electoral reform was not achieved; the property
qualifications limited the electorate to about eight percent of the
population. Therafter, power was held by two Prime Ministers---Benjamin
Disraeli (a Tory and a favourite of Victoria) and William Ewart
Gladstone (a Liberal whom Victoria disliked)---from 1868 to 1885. In
1876, Disraeli convinced Victoria to take the title of Empress of India.

Many of Victoria\'s daughters married into European Royal Houses, giving
her the nickname *Grandmother of Europe*. All of the current European
monarchs descend from Victoria.

Victoria died in 1901, holding the record for longest serving British
Sovereign. She was succeeded by her son Edward, who became King Edward
VII. Edward was deemed to belong not to his mother\'s House of Hanover,
but instead to his father\'s dynasty, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.


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## Edward VII

Edward VII was the oldest person in British history to become King,
beginning his reign at the age of fifty-nine. He participated actively
in foreign affairs, visiting France in 1903. The visit led to the
*Entente Cordiale* (Friendly Understanding), an informal agreement
between France and the United Kingdom marking the end of centuries of
Anglo-French rivalry. In the case of Germany, however, Edward VII
exacerbated rivalry through his bad relations with his nephew, Kaiser
Wilhelm II.

Towards the end of his life, Edward was faced with a constitutional
crisis when the Liberal Government, led by Herbert Henry Asquith,
proposed the *People\'s Budget*. The Budget reformed the tax system by
creating a land tax, which would adversely affect the aristocratic
class. The Conservative landowning majority in the House of Lords broke
convention by rejecting the budget. They argued that the Commons
themselves had broken a convention by attacking the wealth of the Lords.
Before the problem could be resolved, Edward VII died in 1910, allowing
his son, George, to ascend to the throne.

## George V

After George became King, the constitutional crisis was resolved after
the Liberal Government resigned and Parliament was dissolved. The
Liberals were reelected, in part due to the unpopularity of the House of
Lords, and used the election as a mandate to force their Budget through,
almost too late to save the nation\'s financial system from ruin.

The Lords paid a price for their opposition to the Liberals, who in the
commons passed the Parliament Bill, which provided that a bill could be
submitted for the King\'s Assent if the Commons passed it in three
consecutive sessions, even if the Lords rejected it. The time would
later be reduced to two sessions in 1949. When the House of Lords
refused to pass the Parliament Bill, Prime Minister Asquith asked George
V to create 250 new Liberal peers to erase the Conservative majority.
George agreed, but the Lords acquiesced and passed the bill quickly.

World War I occurred during George\'s reign. Due to the family\'s German
connections, the Royalty began to become unpopular; George\'s cousin,
Wilhelm II, was especially despised. In 1917, to appease the public,
George changed the Royal House\'s name from the German-sounding
*Saxe-Coburg-Gotha* to the more English *Windsor*.

In 1922, most of Ireland left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free
State following the Irish Civil War. The Irish Free State retained the
British monarch as a Sovereign, but functioned as a Dominion of the
Crown, with its own Government and Legislature. Six counties in the
Irish province of Ulster remained in the United Kingdom as Northern
Ireland. In 1927, the name of the country was changed from *the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland* to *the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland*.

George V died in 1936 and was succeeded by his son, who ruled as Edward
VIII.

## Edward VIII

Edward VIII became King in January of 1936 and abdicated in December.
His reign was controversial because of his desire to marry the American
Wallis Simpson. Simpson was already divorced once; she divorced her
second husband so she could marry King Edward. A problem, however,
existed because Edward was the Supreme Governor of the Church of
England, which prohibited remarriage after divorce. The Government
advised him that he could not marry while he was King, so he indicated a
desire to abdicate and marry Simpson. The abdication was not unilateral,
as the Act of Settlement provided that the Crown go to the heir of
Sophia, Electress of Hanover, regardless of that person\'s willingness
to rule. Therefore, Parliament had to pass a special Act in order to
permit Edward to abdicate, which he did.

Edward\'s brother, Albert Frederick Arthur George, became King. He chose
to rule as George VI to create a link in the public\'s mind between him
and the previous Kings of the same name during a time of crisis. Edward,
meanwhile, was made Duke of Windsor and the issue of his marriage to
Simpson were excluded from the line of succession.

## George VI

When George took power in 1936, the popularity of the Royal Family had
been damaged by the abdication crisis. It was, however, restored when
George and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, led the nation and boosted morale
during World War II. During the war, Britain was led by one of its most
famous Prime Ministers, Sir Winston Churchill.

Following the War, the United Kingdom began to lose several of its
overseas possessions. In 1947, India became independent and George lost
the title of Emperor of India. Until 1950, however, he remained King of
India while a constitution was being written. George was also the last
King of Ireland; the Irish established a republic in 1949.

George died in 1952 from lung cancer. His daughter Elizabeth succeeded
him.

## Elizabeth II

During Elizabeth\'s reign, there have been several important
constitutional developments. A notable one occurred in 1963, when
Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan resigned. There was no
clear leader of the Conservative Party, but many favoured Richard Austen
Butler, the Deputy Prime Minister. Harold Macmillan advised the Queen,
however, that senior politicians in the party preferred Alec
Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home. Elizabeth accepted the advice and
appointed the Earl of Home to the office of Prime Minister, marking the
last time a member of the House of Lords would be so appointed. Home,
taking advantage of the Peerage Act passed in 1963, \"disclaimed\" his
peerage. A Conservative member of the House of Commons vacated his seat,
allowing Home to contest the by-election for that constituency and
become a member of the House of Commons.

There have also been many recent constitutional developments in the
nation. The office of Prime Minister increased greatly in power under
the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (the \"Iron Lady\")
and the Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. Under Blair, many of
Parliament\'s lawmaking functions were devolved to local administrations
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 1999, the House of Lords Act
was passed, removing the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in
the House.

Elizabeth II continues to reign; her heir is Charles, Prince of Wales.


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Kingdom does not possess a document expressing itself to be the
nation\'s fundamental or highest law. Instead, the British constitution
is found in a number of sources. Because of this, the British
constitution is often said to be an *unwritten constitution*; however,
many parts of the constitution are indeed in written form, so it would
be more accurate to refer to the body of the British constitution as an
*uncodified constitution*.

The British constitution is spread across a number of sources:\
1. Statute law\
2. Royal prerogative (executive powers usually exercised by Ministers
of the Crown)\
3. Constitutional conventions (accepted norms of political
behaviour)\
4. Common law (decisions by senior courts that are binding on lower
courts)\
5. EU Treaties\
6. Statements made in books considered to have particular
authority\
Note that not all of these sources form part of the law of the land, and
so the British constitution encompasses a wider variety of rules, etc.
than that of (say) the United States.

## 1. Statute law

Many important elements of the British constitution are to be found in
Acts of Parliament. In contrast with many other countries, legislation
affecting the constitution is not subject to any special procedure, and
is passed using the same procedures as for ordinary legislation.

The most important statute law still in force and affecting the
constitution includes the following:

-   The *Habeas Corpus Act 1679*
-   The *Bill of Rights* (1689)
-   The *Claim of Right* (1689)
-   The *Act of Settlement* (1701)
-   The *Acts of Union* (1707)
-   The *Septennial Act 1715*
-   The *Acts of Union* (1800)
-   The *Parliament Acts* (1911 and 1949)
-   The *Regency Act 1953*
-   The *Life Peerages Act 1958*
-   The *Peerage Act 1963*
-   The *European Communities Act 1972*
-   The *British Nationality Act 1981*
-   The *Representation of the People Act 1983*
-   The *Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986*
-   The *Human Rights Act 1998*
-   The *Scotland Act 1998*
-   The *Northern Ireland Act 1998*
-   The *House of Lords Act 1999*
-   The *Civil Contingencies Act 2004*
-   The *Constitutional Reform Act 2005*
-   The *Government of Wales Act 2006*

## 2. Royal prerogative

Certain powers pre-dating the establishment of the present parliamentary
system are still formally retained by the Queen. In practice almost all
of these powers are exercised only on the decision of Ministers of the
Crown (the Cabinet). These powers, known as the *royal prerogative*,
include the following:

-   The appointment and dismissal of government ministers
-   The summoning, opening, prorogation, and dissolution of Parliament
-   The assenting to legislation
-   The power to declare war, and to deploy the armed forces
-   The power to conduct relations with foreign states, including the
    recognition of states or governments, and the making of treaties
-   The issuing of passports

## 3. Constitutional conventions

Conventions are customs that operate as rules considered to bind the
actions of the Queen or the Government. Conventions are not part of the
law, but nevertheless are often considered to be just as fundamental to
the structure and working of the constitution as the contents of any
statute. Indeed, statute law affecting the constitution is often written
in such a way that the existence of certain conventions is taken for
granted, and some conventions are so fundamental that many people are
unaware that they are in fact \"unwritten\" rules.

Examples of the more important constitutional conventions include:

-   The Queen does not direct government policy, and leaves all
    decision-making to her Cabinet
-   Cabinet members are bound by the principle of *collective
    responsibility*; ministers who feel themselves unable to publicly
    support or defend the policy of the Government are expected to
    resign
-   The Government is headed by a Prime Minister, appointed by the Queen
    from the House of Commons
-   The Prime Minister is usually expected to be the leader of the
    political party with the most MPs (members of the House of Commons)
-   When a Prime Minister\'s political party loses a general election
    (i.e. obtains less seats in the House of Commons than a rival
    party), he or she is expected to resign
-   Government ministers are usually expected to be drawn entirely from
    the two Houses of Parliament, and most important office-holders are
    expected to be MPs
-   A government that is unable to obtain the passage through Parliament
    of important legislation, including the annual Appropriation and
    Finance Acts, is expected to resign
-   The (unelected) House of Lords does not obstruct the passage of
    legislation stated in the government party\'s election manifesto to
    be fundamental policy
-   The Speaker of the House of Commons is expected to be impartial,
    even though originally elected as the representative of a political
    party

## 4. Common law

The common law is that part of the law which does not rest on statute.
Instead, it is the accumulation of specific judicial decisions set by
senior courts as precedents binding on lesser courts.

Certain parts of the common law are also what is known as *trite law*:
examples of this include the fact that the United Kingdom is a monarchy,
and the fact that brothers used to take precedence over sisters in the
succession to the throne; this was repealed by the Succession to the
Crown Act 2013.

## 5. EU Treaties

As a member state of the European Union, the United Kingdom is bound by
EU law. However, the majority of votes cast favoured the referendum to
exit the EU. The UK invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union
on 29 March 2017, which started what is often referred to as the
\"Brexit\". The United Kingdom left the European Union on 30 January
2020.

## 6. Authoritative statements

Certain published works are usually considered to have particular
authority. In the first half of the twentieth century this was the case
with A V Dicey\'s *Law of the Constitution*, being cited with approval
in judicial decisions. A particularly important work is *Erskine May*,
which sets out the procedures and customs of the House of Commons. Other
important sources include certain ministerial statements.

However, none of these works have **legal** authority; at best, they are
merely *persuasive*.


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## The Sovereign

The role of head of state in the United Kingdom is held by the
Sovereign; the present Sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II.

### Succession to the throne

As a hereditary monarchy, the rules for succession to the throne are
established by common law, as modified by statute.

In accordance with the *Act of Settlement* (1701), on the death of the
Sovereign he or she used to be succeeded by his or her \"heir of the
body\"; this operated in accordance with the principle of
*male-preference primogeniture*. If the Sovereign had only one child,
that child succeeds. If there are more than one children, then the order
of succession was determined first by sex, and then by age. This was
repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.

If the Sovereign dies childless (\"without issue\") then the order of
succession is applied to their siblings: the oldest surviving sibling
then succeeds. If the Sovereign\'s siblings have died before he or she
died, then the order of succession works through the children of the
next oldest deceased brother, and so on.

Only legitimate children are able to succeed. The *Royal Marriages Act
1772* operates to restrict the capacity for a potential heir to marry
without the Sovereign\'s approval: all descendants of King George II,
other than women who have married into foreign families, are required to
obtain the Sovereign\'s consent before marrying, unless they can
otherwise obtain approval from both Houses of Parliament.

The *Bill of Rights* (1689) and *Act of Settlement* require all heirs to
be descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover (d. 1714), and impose
further requirements that an heir be a Protestant, that they may never
have married a Roman Catholic, and that they be in full communion with
the Church of England. Heirs not meeting these conditions are skipped
over as if \"naturally dead\".

### The role of the Sovereign beyond the United Kingdom

As Sovereign in right of the United Kingdom, the Sovereign is also head
of state in the \"Crown dependencies\" of Jersey, Guernsey (and its
dependencies), and the Isle of Man. While the external relations of
these islands is dealt with by the United Kingdom, however, they do not
form part of the United Kingdom itself, and have their own
constitutional arrangements.

Similarly, the United Kingdom has sovereignty over various territories
around the world, known as the *British overseas territories*. As such,
the Sovereign is also head of state in these territories, although again
these do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, and have their own
constitutional arrangements.

The British Sovereign is also the Sovereign of certain other
*Commonwealth Realms*: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Each of these nations is a
separate monarchy; the Sovereign therefore holds sixteen different
crowns. In each nation, the Sovereign is represented by a
Governor-General, who generally stands in relation to the local
government in the same relation as the Sovereign does to the British
government.

Finally, the Sovereign has the title *Head of the Commonwealth*. The
Commonwealth is a body of nations mostly made up of former colonial
dependencies of the United Kingdom. The role of Head of the Commonwealth
is a personal role of the present Queen, Elizabeth II, and is not
formally attached to the monarchy itself (although the present Queen\'s
father, King George VI, also held the title). The role is purely a
ceremonial one.

### Royal Family

While the members of the Sovereign\'s family do not have any role in
government, they do exercise ceremonial functions on his or her behalf.

A male Sovereign has the title \"King\", while a female Sovereign is the
\"Queen\". The wife of a King is also known as a Queen; however, the
husband of a female Sovereign has no specific title.

By convention, the Sovereign\'s eldest son is created \"Prince of
Wales\" and \"Earl of Chester\" while still a boy; he also automatically
gains the title of \"Duke of Cornwall\". Also by convention, the
Sovereign\'s sons receive a peerage either upon reaching the age of
twenty-one, or upon marrying.

The style of *Prince* or *Princess* extends to the children of the
Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest son
of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. Furthermore, wives of Princes
are styled Princesses, though husbands of Princesses do not
automatically become Princes.