Questions about Royalty

[kelly9480]

The Prince of Monaco, Queen of the Netherlands and Prince of Liechtenstein still have power. Liechtenstein has been described as moving back to an absolute monarchy after recent constitutional reforms.

[heyalice]

I caught part of a doc about QEII about ten days that changed her life. Two stood out, when PM Macmillian was on his supposed death bed he summoned the Queen to his bedside to tell her that her he wanted Home(Hume?) and not Butler to succeed him and in 1956 when she was kept in the dark about the Suez Canal crisis. My question is if the Queen has no actual say in the goings on of government why do PMs have to go to her about anything at all?

[kelly9480]

Because the Queen is supposed to serve as some sort of higher power. Blair has mentioned how she holds them to account for their actions and feels free to ask probing, difficult questions. She has no political power, but, according to all her PMs, she is a powerful moral force.

[twodollars]

Thanks for the info.

[indygirl]

kelly9480 said:

She has no political power, but, according to all her PMs, she is a powerful moral force.

I wonder how well Charles will work in that capacity.

[kelly9480]

indygirl said:

kelly9480 said:

She has no political power, but, according to all her PMs, she is a powerful moral force.

I wonder how well Charles will work in that capacity.

I don't think Charles is going to be able to play the moral card at all, unless the PM is a complete degenerate. He already irritates the hell out of the government with his constant interference in politics, I can see him PMs being completely dismissive of him, to the point of cancelling meetings.

[heyalice]

When Charles becomes King, he's supposed to be Defender of the Faith. He's divorced. How's that gonna work?
BTW, thank you kelly for the info.

[Auroranorth]

I think since Diana is dead, it doesn't count. He was widowed, technically. He probably couldn't have remarried if she'd lived.

I can see his PMs being completely dismissive of him, to the point of cancelling meetings.

Don't they have to meet with the sovereign? The Queen has weekly meetings with her PM.

[kelly9480]

Blair has been known to just not show up for meetings, andr show up extremely late, without telling anyone beforehand.

[Augustus]

The Dutch queen only has very limited power. The prime minister has weekly meetings with her, but more to get advice and hear her thoughts. The final decisions are made by the parliament, not her. Her opinions and thoughts are not taken into consideration, for as the monarch her views need to be out of the picture. Laws will be signed by her, but that's more a formality like a lot of her other duties.

The only time where she truly can have some influence is when a new cabinet needs to be chosen. She appoints an 'informateur', he does all the talks with the political parties and discusses who could be appointed for what office. And she appoints the 'formateur', who negotiates and basically forms the final cabinet.

Since the Dutch monarchy has nearly no political influence or power, her parents started the Bilderberg conference.