hello i'm simon whistler you're watching
the today i found our youtube channel
and in the video today we're looking at
what powers the queen of england
actually has
and just before we get started i do want
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forward slash brain food
so a short while ago we put out a video
about the fact that queen elizabeth ii
neither needs a passport nor a driving
license thanks to a quirk of british law
but what other powers does the queen of
many titles have and what could she
theoretically do
if she decided to flex the full might of
the authority that she wields
as it turns out thanks to the royal
prerogative a terrifying amount if she
really felt like it
or at least that's assuming parliament
went by the letter of the law
and that the people didn't decide to
stage a small revolt
in reality the queen rarely exerts even
a fraction of the power
that she theoretically wields as it's
kept in check by the only person in the
uk who can tell her what to do
and that's herself this is very much a
calculated move on her part in order to
stay in the good graces of her subjects
she also voluntarily pays her taxes even
though she's not technically obligated
to
and that helps with people's opinion of
her not only does she avoid openly
flexing her political might she also
tends to keep her opinions outside of
the public sphere as historian frank
prehaska notes
the real secret of royal influence is
saying nothing
and anything the queen does say publicly
is pretty anodyne the minute of monarch
or many of the royals say anything
remotely political or opinionated
they alienate people and they lose some
power
this silence played a large part in how
the british monarchy survived post world
war one
when other european royal families
didn't in fact for nearly two decades
now the monarchy has regularly had polls
run and focus groups put together to
keep track of how the general public
feels about them than their various
actions
they also have on payroll individuals
whose job it is to ensure the queen
stays in the public eye and in a way
that is most likely to endear her to her
subjects
similar to politicians who rely on the
voting public with each public change
she presents right down to the carrying
of a cell phone or not
carefully calculated in terms of the
impact it might have
while this may seem only self-serving
the queen has a very lengthy track
record
as an admirable public servant and is
also acutely aware that she is a
prominent public face
representing her subjects so is keen on
avoiding being viewed in a bad light
lest she in turn paints them in a bad
light by her actions
as she noted at the tender age of 21 in
a speech to the commonwealth she gave on
her birthday
i declare before you all that my whole
life whether it be long or short
shall be devoted to your service and the
service of our great imperial family
to which we all belong surprisingly for
many years the full extent of exactly
what powers the queen handed off to the
government but technically retained
weren't publicly known that is until
2003 when the government released a
partial list of the things it can do
on the queen's behalf for the most part
the list confirmed that the government
could do things to save the queen time
such as issue or revoke passports which
simply wouldn't be a feasible thing to
be the sole prerogative of the crown in
a modern society
however some were actually slightly
worried by some of the things she could
do
like declare war which under rules of
raw prerogative
can be done without consulting
parliament on top of that the queen is
totally immune from prosecution
and is considered above the law in the
uk and further as a head of state she
also enjoys diplomatic immunity in any
foreign country she happens to visit
as such she could commit any crime
conceivable anywhere on earth
at least as the law currently stands and
suffer no legal consequences for doing
so
however as with everything else she's
generally exceptionally careful to
ensure that she doesn't break any laws
of course what she does in private is
completely her own affair despite her
prominent political position
as she is exempt from freedom of
information requests
so moving on because technically
speaking the people of britain are not
citizens but subjects of the monarch
she could have anyone she wanted
arrested and presumably seized their
property or land for the crown
speaking of which the queen owns all of
the seabeds around the uk and can
commandeer any ship found in british
waters
for service to the realm oddly enough
she also has first dibs on any whales
that wash up on shore
the queen could also administer any
manner of punishment to an individual
who offended or otherwise displeased her
as the crown has
prerogative power to keep the peace
within the realm and
since she's immune from prosecution
nobody could really do anything if this
punishment wasn't
entirely within the scope of the law if
the government tried to stop her the
queen could decimate the british
political landscape
by dissolving parliament and appointing
anyone she felt like as prime minister
this is because it's the queen's duty to
appoint the prime minister and she could
in theory appoint anyone she wanted to
the position regardless of the way the
british public voted in an election
on top of that in the event the queen
didn't like the outcome of an election
for instance if she didn't like the
replacement parliament members that were
voted in
she could just call for another one
using raw prerogative until she got the
parliament she wanted
not that she'd need to because if she
really wanted she'd just bring in the
army to keep everyone in line
but how does that work how does she
control the army well that's because the
queen is also the commander-in-chief of
the entire british military with every
officer soldier sailor and pilot
swearing allegiance to the crown and
nobody else they're not called her
majesty's armed forces for nothing
being considered the ultimate authority
on all british military matters
the queen could authorize a nuclear
strike on france or make north korea an
ally as she has the power to declare
both war
and peace with foreign nations as for
laws while technically the queen can't
create new laws she can only sign them
into law after they've been decided upon
by parliament
in fact her royal assent is required to
make the law official after being passed
by parliament in the first place
she could appoint ministers who'd make
any laws she wanted a reality and then
just sign them into law that way
beyond royal ascent there's also the
queen's consent which requires she give
her consent before
any law that affects the interests of
the monarchy can even be discussed at
all in parliament
she actually has used this power before
such as in 1999 when she refused to
allow the discussion of a bill that
would have given parliament power to
authorize military strikes in iraq
instead of needing her authorization so
well that's all on the political side
but it doesn't stop
here the queen technically has a sort of
power not only over her subject's
physical beings
but also their souls well how well
that's because she's also the head of
the church of england including having
the power to appoint archbishops and
power over many other such matters
concerning the church
as for most of these powers that
technically allow her to rule with an
iron fist
as previously mentioned the queen is
hesitant to ever use them in such a way
that would displease her subjects
and certainly isn't about to disregard
their representatives in parliament
however these powers still exist for a
variety of reasons including potentially
being needed in times of extreme crisis
that said just because she isn't in the
practice of exercising her powers
against the will of the people
it doesn't mean she isn't occasionally
an active political powerhouse in
private
extremely well respected and known
worldwide with the ability to bend the
ear of
most heads of state the influence the
queen wields is difficult to quantify
but as noted in an article discussing
why the bbc named the queen the most
powerful woman in the world in their
list of 100 most powerful women her
majesty's power is more about
influence a discreet nod of the head a
polite word in the year of a prime
minister at their weekly meeting
or a strategic patronage of a cause
being overlooked by the government
is how she can indirectly affect our
world without us even knowing
well to conclude the queen has many
powers she could theoretically legally
use to her own ends unless her subjects
and parliament simply decided to stage a
revolution
however she generally avoids doing
anything overt that might upset her
subjects and otherwise simply works in
the background more or less in an
advisory role
when she feels there is a need so i
really hope you enjoyed that video now
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