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To: gcruse
Not exactly.

Yes, exactly. The queen's position is ceremonial, she has no official government responsibilities. When the Parliament was created (I think by the Magna Carta), the royalty basically lost most or all of their formal duties related to governing the people/country. Since that time, they have given up any remaining responsibilities they may have had. All they do today is perform ceremonial functions.
54 posted on 12/26/2006 6:27:33 PM PST by DustyMoment (FloriDUH - proud inventors of pregnant/hanging chads and judicide!!)
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To: DustyMoment

Nope, president and prime minister is not the same thing.

A prime minister is always the head of an administation and nowadays is responsible to the legislature - even if theoretically responsible to the monarch.

Presidents are directly elected and responsible to the electorate.


59 posted on 12/26/2006 6:36:56 PM PST by gcruse (http://garycruse.blogspot.com/)
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To: DustyMoment

That isn't really the case.

The Monarch's useable power has diminished over the years, but it was well after Magna Carta - and the reserve powers that still exist today and could be used in an emergency are still very real. The actual Monarch hasn't used their reserve powers in a long time, but in my country (Australia) the Queen's representative, the Governor-General last used them as recently as 1975 - he sacked the entire government to resolve a constitutional crisis.

More significantly, ultimate power to command the military rests with the Queen. The emergency orders that would release nuclear weapons in the event of an attack of the United Kingdom are 'Queens Orders'. Yes, the Prime Minister has the power to issue them, but they are the Queen's orders.

And if the Prime Minister is killed or incapacitated, there is no automatic succession. A new Prime Minister must be commissioned by the Monarch. However, if the Monarch is killed, the next person in the line of succession instantly becomes King or Queen. For this reason, maintaining the Monarchy in the event of an emergency is more critical to British survival than maintaining the Prime Minister. The King or Queen (whoever that may be) can govern alone if necessary. A Prime Minister cannot.


70 posted on 12/26/2006 10:13:51 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: DustyMoment; gcruse
The Prime Minister is not nearly as powerful as a President in some ways; in others, he is weaker (since the Prime Minister would usually have the rest of the legislature backing him up). gcruse has a stronger point than you that a closer analogy to a(n American) President would be the British monarch.
86 posted on 12/27/2006 7:14:39 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( John 3:16 -- Why there's a Christmas.)
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