Purpose of the Queen

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Purpose of the Queen To some of you here and certainly to some members of the general

public it appears as if the queen serves no other pupose than that of

a glorified tourist attraction. She appears as a lady of leisure,

living in a castle, waited on by servants, gallivanting around the

world all at the expense of the taxpayer. With this image being

constantly re-enforced by the tabloids, it's no wonder there are many

who feel resentment towards her and her apparent 'spendthrift' ways.

However, the queen serves a purpose much bigger than many people

realise.

The queen is our 'Head of State' that basically means her work is

largely ceremonial. She appoints the Prime Minister, dissolves

parliament at the end of a term, and grants bills that have been

passed through parliament 'Royal assent' so that they become law/acts

of parliament. Many people may consider this little more than a

'rubber stamp', however some people see her as a safeguard against the

government. Although nowadays the queen is thought to have little or

no power, it must be remembered that, on paper at least, she is the

head of the judiciary, head of the armed forces, and head of the

government. This means that if the government was corrupt or not

acting in the best interest of the people, in theory at least, she has

the power to refuse bills royal assent, defying, or even dismantling

the government. The army also pledges allegiance to the queen rather

than to the Prime minister or the government. This is intentional,

being as it protects the army from being used by the gov...

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...s that a small majority of people

are still in favour of the monarchy, though there is little doubt

their popularity is rapidly decreasing. In the early 1990s only around

5% of the public wished to see to monarchy abolished. In a 1994 TV

poll this figure rose to 44%. Clearly there has been a definite shift

in attitudes. However, it is worth bearing in mind, there was

overwhelming public support for Diana (dubbed 'The People's

Princess"/"The Queen of Hearts" by the media at the time). And with

Prince William who is hailed very much as 'his mother's son' set to

become the next King, the monarchy's popularity is likely to be on the

increase once more. So for the moment at least, it seems as if the

issue of the abolition of the monarchy will remain within the confines

of heated debate, rather than parliamentary discussion.

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