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Monarchy of the United Kingdom

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Currently the British monarch is styled the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Although the monarch plays an important ceremonial role and must formally assent to all acts of Parliament, in practice the powers of the British monarchy are greatly limited by convention.

There are two situations in which the monarch may have political power. By convention, the monarch dissolves parliament and issues a writ for new elections at the request of the Prime Minister, however it is an open question as to whether the monarch must always grant such a dissolution. Another possible situation is if no party gains a majority in Parliament. The monarch would by convention offer the post of Prime Minister to the head of the party most likely to form a government, but it is possible that this may not be the party with the most seats.

See also Misplaced Pages's other lists of incumbents.

Names are followed by dates of reign.

The Scottish Monarchs

The kingdom of Scotland is taken to have begun when Kenneth I became king of the Picts and the Scots.

The Anglo-Saxon Monarchs

Norman Monarchs

The Angevins

The Plantagenets

The Lancastrians

The Yorkists

The Tudors

The Stuarts

The Commonwealth and Protectorate

The Stuarts

The Hanovers

The Saxe-Coburg-Gothas

The Windsors

Note: The name of the royal house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was changed to Windsor in 1917 due to anti-German feelings aroused by World War I.


external links:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/history/crown.htm