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state that is vested in the sovereign and known as the Crown remains the
source of the executive power exercised by the government.
In addition to explicit statutory authority, in many areas the Crown
also possesses a body of powers known as the Royal Prerogative, which
can be used for many purposes, from the issue or withdrawal of
passports to declaration of war. By long-standing custom, most of these
powers are delegated from the sovereign to various ministers or other
officers
of the Crown, who may use them without having to obtain the
consent of Parliament.
The head of the government, the prime minister, also has weekly
meetings with the monarch, when she "has a right and a duty to express
her views on Government matters. ... These meetings, as with all
communications between
The Queen and her Government, remain
strictly confidential. Having expressed her views, The Queen abides by
the advice of her ministers.".
Royal Prerogative powers include, but are not limited to, the following:
Domestic powers
The power to dismiss and appoint a prime minister.
This power is
exercised by the monarch herself. By strong convention she must
appoint the individual most capable of commanding a majority in the
House of Commons.
The power to dismiss and appoint other ministers. This power is
exercised by the prime minister alone.
The power to grant Royal Assent to bills, making them valid laws.
This is exercised by the monarch, who also theoretically has the power
to refuse assent, although no monarch has refused assent to a bill passed
by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708.
The power to commission officers in the Armed Forces
The power to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom. This
power is exercised by the Defence Council in the Queen's name.
The power to appoint members to the Her Majesty's Most Honourable
Privy Council
The power to issue and withdraw passports. This is exercised by the
Home Secretary.
The Prerogative of mercy (though
capital punishment has been
abolished, this power is still used to remedy errors in sentence
calculation)
The power to grant honours
The power to create corporations via Royal Charter
Foreign powers
The power to ratify and make treaties.
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The power to declare war and conclude peace with other nations.
The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
The power
to recognise states
The power to credit and receive diplomats
Even though the United Kingdom has no single constitutional document,
the government published the above list in October 2003 in order to
increase transparency, as some of the powers exercised in the name of
the monarch and which are part of the Royal Prerogative. However, the
complete extent of
the Royal Prerogative powers, many of them
originating in ancient custom and the period of absolute monarchy, or
modified by later constitutional practice, has never been fully set out.
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