GIUBEGA Eusebiu Viorel

Drept Anul I – I.D

Grupa 311

1. Great Britain
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This article is about the island. For the state of which it is a part, see United
Kingdom. For the historical state, see Kingdom of Great Britain. For other uses,
see Great Britain (disambiguation) and Britain (disambiguation).
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast
of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest
of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the
world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it
the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia
and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain,
and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form
the British Isles archipelago.
The island is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences
between seasons. England, Scotland, and Wales are mostly on the island of Great
Britain, and the term "Great Britain" is often used to include the whole of England,
Scotland and Wales including their component adjoining islands. Politically, Great
Britain and Northern Ireland together constitute the United Kingdom.
A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of
England (which had already comprised the present-day countries of England and
Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland by the 1707 Acts of Union. In 1801, Great
Britain united with the neighbouring Kingdom of Ireland, forming the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which was renamed the "United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland" after the Irish Free State seceded in 1922.

Toponymy
The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term
'British Isles' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this
island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as
a collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of
Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, and
later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia.
The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion (Greek: Ἀλβιών) or insula
Albionum, from either the Latin albus meaning "white" (possibly referring to
the white cliffs of Dover, the first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island
of the Albiones".The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was
by Aristotle (384–322 BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the
Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called
the British Isles, Albion and Ierne".

Greek geographer, Pytheas of Massalia
The first known written use of the word Britain was an ancient
Greek transliteration of the original P-Celtic term in a work on the travels and
discoveries of Pytheas that has not survived. The earliest existing records of the
word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within
Strabo's Geographica, Pliny's Natural History and Diodorus of Sicily's Bibliotheca
historica.[  Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great
Britain: "Its former name was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which
we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of
'Britanniæ.
The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia,
the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern
French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form
replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond,
Breten-lond). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the
British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of Pytheas around
320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north
as Thule (probably Norway).
The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, 
Priteni or Pretani. Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain,
which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the
early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland.[21] The latter were later
called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans. Greek historians Diodorus of
Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from the work of Greek
explorer Pytheas of Massalia, who travelled from his home
in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in the 4th century BC. The term used by
Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed
folk" in reference to body decorations. According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to
Britain as Bretannikē, which is treated a feminine noun. Marcian of Heraclea, in
his Periplus maris exteri, described the island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the
Prettanic Isles).

Derivation of Great

A 1490 Italian reconstruction of the map of Ptolemy. The map is a result of a

combination of the lines of roads and of the coasting expeditions during the first
century of Roman occupation. One great fault, however, is a lopsided Scotland,
which in one hypothesis is the result of Ptolemy using Pytheas' measurements of
latitude.
Whether Ptolemy would have had Pytheas' real latitudes at that time is a much
debated issue.
The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great
Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ
Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD).] In his later
work, Geography (c. 150 AD), he gave the islands the names Alwion, Iwernia,
and Mona (the Isle of Man), suggesting these may have been the names of the
individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest. The
name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest
of Britain, after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island.
After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey
of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to
the island as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia
minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to
modern Brittany, which had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by migrants
from Britain. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the
instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter
of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which
described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". It was used again in 1604,
when King James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and
Ireland".
Modern use of the term Great Britain
Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may
refer to the whole of England, Scotland and Wales, including their smaller offshore
islands. It is not correct to use the term to refer to the whole of the United
Kingdom which includes Northern Ireland.
Similarly, Britain can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or
the political grouping of countries. There is no clear distinction, even in government
documents: the UK government yearbooks have used both Britain and United
Kingdom.
GB and GBR are used instead of UK in some international codes to refer to the
United Kingdom, including the Universal Postal Union, international sports
teams, NATO, the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO
3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, and international licence plate codes, whilst
the aircraft registration prefix is G.
On the Internet, .uk is the country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom.
A .gb top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now obsolete because the
domain name registrar will not take new registrations.
In the Olympics, Team GB is used by the British Olympic Association to represent
the British Olympic team. The Olympic Council of Ireland claims to represent the
whole island of Ireland, and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for
either team, most choosing to represent Ireland.

Political definition
Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England, Scotland and Wales in
combination,  but not Northern Ireland; it includes islands, such as the Isle of
Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides and the island groups
of Orkney and Shetland, that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not
include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The political union that joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland happened in
1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the
parliaments of the two nations, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, which
covered the entire island. Before this, a personal union had existed between these
two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I
of England.

Prehistoric period
Main article: Prehistoric Britain

Great Britain was probably first inhabited by those who crossed on the land bridge
from the European mainland. Human footprints have been found from over 800,000
years ago in Norfolk and traces of early humans have been found (at Boxgrove
Quarry, Sussex) from some 500,000 years ago and modern humans from about
30,000 years ago. Until about 14,000 years ago, it was connected to Ireland, and as
recently as 8,000 years ago it retained a land connection to the continent, with an
area of mostly low marshland joining it to what are now Denmark and
the Netherlands.
In Cheddar Gorge, near Bristol, the remains of animal species native to mainland
Europe such as antelopes, brown bears, and wild horses have been found alongside a
human skeleton, 'Cheddar Man', dated to about 7150 BC. Great Britain became an
island at the end of the last glacial period when sea levels rose due to the
combination of melting glaciers and the subsequent isostatic rebound of the crust.
Great Britain's Iron Age inhabitants are known as Britons; they spoke Celtic
languages.

Roman and medieval period

Main articles: Roman Britain, Medieval England, Medieval Scotland,
and Medieval Wales

Prima Europe tabula. A copy of Ptolemy's 2nd-century map of Roman Britain

The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern
England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia. In the course
of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the
island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes, often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons). At about the same
time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both
the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of
Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles
and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Ultimately, the
population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people, so-
named after the Angles.
Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh. This term came to be applied
exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names
such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall. Cymry, a name the Britons
used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from
Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria. The Britons
living in the areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not
assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic
languages in these areas into more recent times. At the time of the Germanic
invasion of Southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known
as Brittany, where Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh
and Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In
the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to
them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw). In the 10th
century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the
kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted
to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, who introduced
a Norman-speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came
under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the
16th century.

Early modern period

Main article: Early modern Britain

Further information: History of the United Kingdom

On 20 October 1604 King James, who had succeeded separately to the two thrones
of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France, and
Ireland".When James died in 1625 and the Privy Council of England was drafting
the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st
Earl of Kellie, succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain",
which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice
versa). While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and
Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament,
until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify the Treaty of
Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with
one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the
name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One
Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island
state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or the "Kingdom
of Great Britain".

Geography
Further information: Geography of England, Geography of Scotland,
and Geography of Wales

See also: Geography of the United Kingdom

View of Britain's coast from northern France
Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate.
Situated off the north-west coast of continental Europe, it is separated from the
mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel, which narrows to 34 km
(18 nmi; 21 mi) at the Straits of Dover. It stretches over about ten degrees
of latitude on its longer, north-south axis and occupies an area of
209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), excluding the smaller surrounding islands The North
Channel, Irish Sea, St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the
island of Ireland to its west The island is physically connected with continental
Europe via the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world,
completed in 1993. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and
south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. It
is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The greatest distance
between two points is 968.0 km (601 1⁄2 mi) (between Land's
End, Cornwall and John o' Groats, Caithness), 838 miles (1,349 km) by road.
The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and
180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by the
breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge that held back a large proglacial
lake, now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during
the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level, Great Britain was not an island,
but an upland region of continental northwestern Europe, lying partially underneath
the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today,
and the bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known
as Doggerland, to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually
rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland
became submerged beneath the North Sea, cutting off what was previously the
British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC.

Geology
Main article: Geology of Great Britain

Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over a very
extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important
factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental
collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding
being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated
with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As a result
of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes.
The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses, metamorphic rocks
found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small
outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 Ma (Ma = million years ago).
South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North
West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially the
remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 Ma and 670
Ma over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean.
At the present time the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of
Devensian ice being lifted. Southern and eastern Britain is sinking, generally
estimated at 1 mm (1/25 inch) per year, with the London area sinking at double the
speed partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits.
Fauna
Main article: Fauna of Great Britain

The robin is popularly known as "Britain's favourite bird".

Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land
area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial
period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe, and the effects
of seasonal variability. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and is
subject to continuing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss
of species. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study
from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the
20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate. However, some
species, such as the brown rat, red fox, and introduced grey squirrel, are well
adapted to urban areas.
Rodents make up 40% of the mammal species.[citation needed]
 These
include squirrels, mice, voles, rats and the recently reintroduced European
beaver. There is also an abundance of European rabbit, European
hare, shrews, European mole and several species of bat. Carnivorous mammals
include the red fox, Eurasian badger, Eurasian otter, weasel, stoat and
elusive Scottish wildcat. Various species of seal, whale and dolphin are found on or
around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today
are deer. The red deer is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also
prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans. Sika deer and two more
species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer, have been introduced,
muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water
deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many
species. Extinct large mammals include the brown bear, grey wolf and wild boar;
the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times.
There is a wealth of birdlife, with 619 species recorded, of which 258 breed on the
island or remain during winter. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great
Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species,
particularly waders, ducks, geese and swans. Other well known bird species include
the golden eagle, grey heron, common kingfisher, common wood pigeon, house
sparrow, European robin, grey partridge, and various species
of crow, finch, gull, auk, grouse, owl and falcon. There are six species of reptile on
the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm. One
snake, the adder, is venomous but rarely deadly.[64] Amphibians present
are frogs, toads and newts. There are also several introduced species of reptile and
amphibian.
Flora
See also: List of the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland

Heather growing wild in the Highlands at Dornoch.

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora is impoverished
compared to that of continental Europe. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular
plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced. The island
has a wide variety of trees, including native species
of birch, beech, ash, hawthorn, elm, oak, yew, pine, cherry and apple. Other trees
have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly
Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of
pine, chestnut, maple, spruce, sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and pear
trees. The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded
measuring 65 metres or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree
in Europe.
There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower.[71] Some 107 species are
particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside
Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's
permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific
counties. These include red poppies, bluebells, daisies, daffodils, rosemary,
gorse, iris, ivy, mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, primrose, thyme, tulips, 
violets, cowslip, heather and many more.
There are also many species of algae and mosses across the island.
Fungi
There are many species of fungi including lichen-forming species, and the
mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most
recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and
toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600
species. The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies,
including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100
species. These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities
in the Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main
fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of
fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement
among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered.

Settlements
London is the capital of England and the whole of the United Kingdom, and is the
seat of the United Kingdom's government. Edinburgh and Cardiff are the capitals
of Scotland and Wales, respectively, and house their devolved governments.
Largest urban areas
See also: List of urban areas in the United Kingdom

Built-up Population Area Density

Rank City-region
area (2011 Census) (km²) (people/km²)

Greater
London
1 London 9,787,426 1,737.9 5,630
Built-up
area

Greater
Manchester- Manchester
2 2,553,379 630.3 4,051
Salford Built-up
area
 Built-up Population Area Density
Rank City-region
area (2011 Census) (km²) (people/km²)

West
Birmingham– Midlands
3 2,440,986 598.9 4,076
Wolverhampton Built-up
area

West
Yorkshire
4 Leeds–Bradford 1,777,934 487.8 3,645
Built-up
area

Greater
Glasgow
5 Glasgow 1,209,143 368.5 3,390
Built-up
area

Liverpool
6 Liverpool Built-up 864,122 199.6 4,329
area

South
Southampton– Hampshire
7 855,569 192.0 4,455
Portsmouth Built-up
area

Newcastle upon Tyneside

8 Tyne– Built-up 774,891 180.5 4,292
Sunderland area

Nottingham
9 Nottingham Built-up 729,977 176.4 4,139
area

10 Sheffield Sheffield 685,368 167.5 4,092

Built-up
 Built-up Population Area Density
Rank City-region
area (2011 Census) (km²) (people/km²)

area

Language
Further information: Languages of England, Languages of Scotland,
and Languages of Wales

See also: Languages of the United Kingdom

In the Late Bronze Age, Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze
Age, held together by maritime trading, which also included Ireland, France, Spain
and Portugal. In contrast to the generally accepted view that Celtic originated in the
context of the Hallstatt culture, since 2009, John T. Koch and others have proposed
that the origins of the Celtic languages are to be sought in Bronze Age Western
Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula. Koch et al.'s proposal has failed to find
wide acceptance among experts on the Celtic languages.
All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally
considered to derive from a common ancestral language
termed Brittonic, British, Common Brythonic, Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic,
which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the
6th century AD. Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman
invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde,
though the Isle of Man later had a Goidelic language, Manx. Northern Scotland
mainly spoke Pritennic, which became Pictish, which may have been a Brythonic
language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to
c. 410), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately
800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic
languages. Romano-British is the name for the Latinised form of the language used
by Roman authors.
British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from
the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th
century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots—an indigenous language of
Scotland. An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh, an official language
in Wales. In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken.
There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by
some immigrant populations.
Religion
Further information: Religion in England, Religion in Scotland, and Religion in
Wales

See also: Religion in the United Kingdom

Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Church of England – the island's largest
denomination
Christianity has been the largest religion by number of adherents since the Early
Middle Ages: it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic
Christianity. According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century.
The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating
from the 16th-century Reformation, it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed.
The Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme
Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26
million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today, although only around one million
regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Rite of
the Roman Catholic Church, which traces its history to the 6th century
with Augustine's mission and was the main religion for around a thousand years.
There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million in England and Wales and
750,000 in Scotland,[93] although fewer than a million Catholics regularly
attend mass.[94]

Glasgow Cathedral, a meeting place of the Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of
ecclesiastical polity, is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1
million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status
of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented
 by a Lord High Commissioner. Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of
Anglicanism through John Wesley. It gained popularity in the old mill towns
of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall.
The Presbyterian Church of Wales, which follows Calvinistic Methodism, is the
largest denomination in Wales. There are other non-conformist minorities, such
as Baptists, Quakers, the United Reformed Church (a union
of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians), Unitarians. The first patron
saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban. He was the first Christian martyr dating from
the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to
the pagan gods. In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St
Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst
the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria.
The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint
George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags
of England and Scotland respectively. These two flags combined to form the basis
of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales.
[103]
 There are many other British saints. Some of the best known
are Cuthbert, Columba, Patrick, Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Mungo, Thomas
More, Petroc, Bede, and Thomas Becket.
Numerous other religions are practised.  Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070.
Jews were expelled from England in 1290 but permitted to return in 1656. There
were also Jewish migrations from Lithuania. The 2001 census recorded
that Islam had around 1.5 million adherents. More than 1 million people practise
either Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism–religions introduced from the Indian
subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

See also

 United Kingdom portal

 Islands portal

 List of islands of England

 List of islands of Scotland
 List of islands of Wales

Notes

1. ^ The political definition of Great Britain – that is, England, Scotland

and Wales combined – includes a number of offshore islands such as the Isle
of Wight, Anglesey and Shetland which are not part of the geographical
island of Great Britain. Those three countries combined have a total area of
234,402 km2 (90,503 sq mi).[7]

2. National symbols of England

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

English cultural icons
The national symbols of England are things which are emblematic, representative
or otherwise characteristic of England or English culture. Some are established,
official symbols; for example, the Royal Arms of England, which has been codified
in heraldry. Other symbols may not have official status, for one reason or another,
but are likewise recognised at a national or international level.
Main article: List of English flags

The national flag of England, known as St George's Cross, has been

England's national flag since the 13th century. Originally the flag
was used by the maritime state the Republic of Genoa. The English
monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards, so
that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when
entering the Mediterranean. A red cross acted as a symbol for
many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated
with Saint George, along with countries and cities, which claimed
him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. Since 1606
the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union
Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I.

The Royal Banner of England[3] (also known as the Banner of the

Royal Arms,[  the Banner of the King) is the English banner of arms;
it features the Royal Arms of England. This Royal Banner differs
from England's national flag, St George's Cross, in that it does not
represent any particular area or land, but rather symbolises
the sovereignty vested in the rulers thereof.

Flora and fauna[edit]

See also: Fauna of England
 The Barbary lion is a national animal of England. In the Middle
Ages, the lions kept in the menagerie at the Tower of London were
Barbary lions. English medieval warrior rulers with a reputation for
bravery attracted the nickname "the Lion": the most famous example
is Richard I of England, known as Richard the Lionheart.  Lions are
frequently depicted in English heraldry, either as
a device on shields themselves, or as supporters. They also appear in
sculpture, and sites of national importance. The lion is used as a
symbol of English sporting teams, such as the England national
cricket team.

The oak is the national tree of England, representing strength and

endurance. The Royal Oak and Oak Apple Day commemorate
the escape of King Charles II from the grasps of the Parliamentarians
(Roundheads) after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 (the last battle of
the English Civil War); he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection
before making it safely into exile. The Major Oak is an 800–1000
year old oak in Sherwood Forest, fabled as the principal hideout
of Robin Hood.[9]

The rose is England's national flower. Usually red, it is used, for

instance, in the emblems of the English Golf Union and England
national rugby union team.

Food and drink[edit]

Main article: English cuisine

Fish and chips has been a recognisable cultural and culinary symbol

of England since the mid-19th century. A strong contender for the
unofficial title of England's national dish, it remains hugely popular
as an affordable and nutritious takeaway meal.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is a widely consumed part of

English cuisine, and is symbolic of England. It is another contender
for the title of England's national dish, supported by a song dating
from 1731 called The Roast Beef of Old England, and the
French nickname for English people; les rosbifs ("the roast beefs").
 Tea is symbolic of England In 2006, a government-sponsored survey
confirmed that a cup of tea constituted a national symbol of
England. By an alternative view, it may be considered symbolic
of Britain rather than England alone for its historical British
connection with Empire and India, and is not specifically pre-Union
of the Crowns or pre-Union of Parliaments. It is also drunk widely
and equally in England, Scotland and Wales.

Heraldry[edit]
Main article: English heraldry

The Royal Arms of England is a coat of arms symbolising England

and the English monarchs. Designed in the High Middle Ages, the
Royal Arms was subject to significant alteration as the territory,
politics and rule of the Kingdom of England shifted throughout the
Middle Ages. However, the enduring blazon, or technical
description, is "Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed
and langued Azure", meaning three horizontally positioned, identical
gold lions facing the observer, with blue tongues and claws, on a
deep red background. Although officially subsumed into the heraldry
of the British Royal Family in 1707, the historic Royal Arms
featuring three lions continues to represent England on several coins
of the pound sterling, forms the basis of several emblems of English
national sports teams (such as the England national football
team), and endures as one of the most recognisable national symbols
of England.

St Edward's Crown was one of the English Crown Jewels and

remains one of the senior Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom,
often being used as the coronation crown. Since 1952, two-
dimensional representations of the crown have been used in coats of
arms, badges, and various other insignia to indicate the authority of
the monarch throughout the Commonwealth realms.

The Tudor rose, which takes its name from the Tudor dynasty, was
adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of
the Wars of the Roses as a symbol of peace. It is a syncretic symbol
in that it merged the white rose of the Yorkists and the red rose of
the Lancastrians - cadet branches of the Plantagenets - who went to
war over control of the royal house. It is also known as the Rose of
England.

Literature[edit]
Main article: English literature

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342/43–1400): "the first finder of our

language", his Middle English collection of 24 stories The
Canterbury Tales remains among the greatest poetic works
of English literature.[22]

Charles Dickens (1812–1870): Generally considered the greatest

English novelist of the Victorian era, his numerous works include: A
Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist.[23]

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair, 1903–1950): English novelist,

essayist, and critic whose politically founded works include the
allegorical novella Animal Farm and dystopian novel Nineteen
Eighty-Four.

William Shakespeare (c. 1550–1623?): English poet and dramatist

often called the English national poet and commonly regarded as the
greatest dramatist of all time.

Military[edit]
Main article: Military of England

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658): English soldier and statesman, who

raised England's status once more to that of a leading
power following a decline after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. A
man of outstanding gifts, he believed deeply in religious toleration,
and continued to influence political and social ideas until recent
times.
 John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) commanded
the largest allied armies during the Spanish War of
Succession (1701–1714). He "fought ten campaigns on the
[European] Continent and never lost a battle, never even failed to
take a fortress to which he had laid siege".

Horatio Nelson (1758–1805): Naval commander whose great success

in battle, combined with his humanity as a commander, earned him
godlike status in his lifetime. After his death at the Battle of
Trafalgar in 1805, he was enshrined in popular myth
and iconography. Nelson's column in London's Trafalgar Square was
constructed between 1840 and 1843.

Motor vehicles[edit]
Main article: Automotive industry in the United Kingdom

AEC Routemaster bus: Double-decker bus designed by London

Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC)
and Park Royal Vehicles; popular with the public, and a perennial
favourite with tourists.

Rolls-Royce Limited motor cars (1906–1973) and the Spirit of

Ecstasy bonnet ornament: the original English company established a
reputation worldwide for superior engineering quality and all-round
elegance, earning widespread recognition for producing the "best car
in the world".

London taxi / black cab / Hackney carriage: Inimitable and timeless

taxi design. Only licensed hackney carriages can pick up passengers
on the street and without pre-booking. London's traditional black
cabs are specially constructed vehicles designed to conform to the
standards set out in the Conditions of Fitness. Traditional London
taxi drivers are licensed and must have passed an
extensive training course (the Knowledge).

Music[edit]
Main article: Music of the United Kingdom
 The Beatles: Arguably the most significant musical and cultural force
of the twentieth century.

William Byrd (c.1539/40 or 1543 - 1623): So-called "father

of English music"; A. L. Rowse says Byrd was to music
"what Shakespeare was to the theatre".

Edward Elgar (1857–1934): Elgar's status as a symbol of artistic

inspiration was celebrated on the English £20 banknote, 1999–2010.
[36]
 Elgar's numerous compositions include the music of the
stirring patriotic song "Land of Hope and Glory".

Myth and folklore[edit]

Main article: English folklore

King Arthur: legendary sovereign of Britain who defeated

the Saxon English in the late 5th and early 6th centuries and appears
in an international cycle of chivalric romances (known as the Matter
of Britain). It is not known how his legend originated but appears
first in Brittonic literature?; its also unknown whether the figure
Arthur was based on a historical person.

Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw in English folklore.[39]

People[edit]
See also: List of English people
 Alfred the Great was King of Wessex, becoming the dominant ruler
in England.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965): voted top of the BBC's 2002 100

Greatest Britons poll, Churchill is among the most influential people
in English history.

Saint George (280–303 AD): the patron saint of England.[1]

Queen Victoria (1819–1901): her reign (1837–1901) is known as the

Victorian era; it was a period of great industrial, cultural, political,
scientific, and military change, and was marked by a grand
expansion of the British Empire.

Miscellaneous[edit]
See also: List of cultural icons of England

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north
end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and often extended to
refer to the clock and the clock tower. The tower is officially known
as Elizabeth Tower: it was renamed in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond
Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Previously it was known simply as the Clock
Tower. "Big Ben" has become one of England's most prominent
symbols.
Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative
headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. The
palace is often the site of state occasions, and has been a focal point
at times of national celebration and mourning.

Coldstream Guards: The oldest regiment in the Regular Army in

continuous active service, its origin lies in the English Civil
War when Oliver Cromwell gave Colonel George Monck permission
to form his own regiment as part of the New Model Army.

Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance normally

accompanied by music. It involves rhythmic stepping and
choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell
pads on their shins. Morris dancers may use sticks, swords and
handkerchiefs when dancing. The earliest known, surviving English
record of Morris dancing is dated to 1448.

The White Cliffs of Dover: The cliffs have great symbolic value in

England because they face Continental Europe across the narrowest
section of the English Channel, where invasions have historically
threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard.
Before air travel, crossing from Dover was the primary route to the
continent, so the cliffs also formed the first or last sight of England
for those making the journey.

The Maypole is a feature in many towns and villages in England.

Maypole dances and celebrations occur around May Day which
celebrates the coming summer. People dress up and sometimes wear
flower crowns, the maypole is decorated with ribbons and a wreath.

A Fête takes place across the country regularly in spring and

summer. These are outdoor events usually organised by a volunteer
committee, possibly the local church which features bunting ribbons
and marquees which have different attractions, and serve food such
as tea and cake.
 3. Commonwealth of Nations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

"The Commonwealth" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Commonwealth

realm or Commonwealth of Independent States. For other uses, see Commonwealth
(disambiguation).

Commonwealth of Nations

Flag

Logo

Member states of the Commonwealth

Headquarter Marlborough House

s London, SW1
United Kingdom

Working English
language

Type Voluntary association[1]

Member 54 states[show]
states

Leaders
 • Head Queen Elizabeth II

• Secretary- Patricia Scotland

General

• Chair-in- Boris Johnson

Office

Establishment

• Balfour 19 November 1926

Declaration

• Statute of 11 December 1931[2]

Westminster

• London 28 April 1949

Declaration

Area

• Total 29,958,050 km2 (11,566,870 sq mi)

Population

• 2016 estimate 2,418,964,000

• Density 75/km2 (194.2/sq mi)

Website
thecommonwealth.org

The Commonwealth of Nations, generally known simply as the Commonwealth,

is a political association of 54 member states, nearly all former territories of
the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth
Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth
Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations between member states.
The Commonwealth dates back to the first half of the 20th century with
the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its
territories. It was originally created as the British Commonwealth of Nations through
the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, and formalised by
the United Kingdom through the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The current
Commonwealth of Nations was formally constituted by the London Declaration in
1949, which modernised the community and established the member states as "free
and equal".
The human symbol of this free association is the Head of the Commonwealth,
currently Queen Elizabeth II; the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting appointed Charles, Prince of Wales to be her designated successor,
although the position is not technically hereditary. The Queen is the head of state of
16 member states, known as the Commonwealth realms, while 33 other members
are republics and five others have different monarchs.
Member states have no legal obligations to one another, but are connected through
their use of the English language and historical ties. Their stated shared values
of democracy, human rights and the rule of law are enshrined in the Commonwealth
Charter[8] and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games.
The countries of the Commonwealth cover more than
2
29,958,050 km  (11,566,870 sq mi), equivalent to 20 per cent of the world's land
area. The total population is estimated to be 2,418,964,000 as of 2016, equivalent to
nearly a third of the global population, making it the second
largest Intergovernmental organisation by population behind the United Nations.

History[edit]
Origins of the concept and establishment of the term[edit]
Main articles: British Empire and Historiography of the British Empire

The prime ministers of five members at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers'

Conference. (L-R) Mackenzie King (Canada), Jan Smuts (South Africa), Winston
Churchill (United Kingdom), Peter Fraser (New Zealand) and John
Curtin (Australia)
Queen Elizabeth II, in her address to Canada on Dominion Day in 1959, pointed out
that the confederation of Canada on 1 July 1867 had been the birth of the "first
independent country within the British Empire". She declared: "So, it also marks the
beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the
Commonwealth of Nations." As long ago as 1884 Lord Rosebery, while visiting
Australia, had described the changing British Empire, as some of its colonies
became more independent, as a "Commonwealth of Nations". Conferences of
British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887,
leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in 1911.
The Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. A specific proposal
was presented by Jan Smuts in 1917 when he coined the term "the British
Commonwealth of Nations" and envisioned the "future constitutional relations and
readjustments in essence" at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, attended by
delegates from the Dominions as well as Britain. The term first received imperial
statutory recognition in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, when the term British
Commonwealth of Nations was substituted for British Empire in the wording of the
oath taken by members of parliament of the Irish Free State.
Adoption and formalisation of the Commonwealth[edit]
In the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, Britain and its
dominions agreed they were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another
in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common
allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British
Commonwealth of Nations". The term "Commonwealth" was officially adopted to
describe the community.
These aspects to the relationship were formalised by the Statute of Westminster in
1931, which applied to Canada without the need for ratification, but Australia, New
Zealand, and Newfoundland had to ratify the statute for it to take effect.
Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its
parliament, the government of Newfoundland voluntarily ended and governance
reverted to direct control from London. Newfoundland later joined Canada as
its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute
in 1942 and 1947 respectively.
Although the Union of South Africa was not among the Dominions that needed to
adopt the Statute of Westminster for it to take effect, two laws—the Status of the
Union Act, 1934, and the Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act of 1934—were
passed to confirm South Africa's status as a sovereign state.
Decolonisation and self-governance[edit]
For a more comprehensive list, see List of countries that have gained independence
from the United Kingdom.

After the Second World War ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled.
Most of its components have become independent countries,
whether Commonwealth realms or republics, and members of the Commonwealth.
There remain the 14 mainly self-governing British overseas territories which retain
some political association with the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following
the London Declaration, the word "British" was dropped from the title of the
Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature.
Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Aden (now part of the Republic of Yemen)
are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined
the Commonwealth upon independence. Former
British protectorates and mandates that did not become members of the
Commonwealth are Egypt (independent in
1922), Iraq (1932), Transjordan (1946), Palestine (part of which became the state
of Israel in 1948), Sudan (1956), British Somaliland (which united with the
former Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the Somali
Republic), Kuwait (1961), Bahrain (1971), Oman (1971), Qatar (1971), and
the United Arab Emirates (1971).

Declining roles[edit]
The postwar Commonwealth was given a fresh mission by Queen Elizabeth in her
Christmas Day 1953 broadcast, in which she envisioned the Commonwealth as "an
entirely new conception – built on the highest qualities of the Spirit of Man:
friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace". Hoped-for success was
reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the
four-minute mile in 1954, and a solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1966.
However, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt the morale of Britain
and of the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a central
role of the British Empire: the defence of the Empire. That role was no longer
militarily or financially feasible, as Britain's withdrawal from Greece in 1947 had
painfully demonstrated. Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military
alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada. The ANZUS
treaty of 1955 linked Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in a defensive
alliance, with Britain and the Commonwealth left out. The second major function of
the Empire made London the financial centre of the system. After the Second World
War, the British treasury was so weak that it could not operate independently of the
United States. The loss of defence and financial roles, furthermore,
undermined Joseph Chamberlain's early 20th-century vision of a world empire that
could combine Imperial preference, mutual defence, and social growth.
Furthermore, Britain's cosmopolitan role in world affairs became increasingly
limited, especially with the losses of India and Singapore. While British politicians
at first hoped the Commonwealth would preserve and project British influence, they
gradually lost their enthusiasm, argues Krishnan Srinivasan. Early enthusiasm
waned as British policies came under fire at Commonwealth meetings. Public
opinion became troubled as immigration from non-white member states became
large-scale.

Republics[edit]
On 18 April 1949, Ireland formally became a republic in accordance with the
Irish Republic of Ireland Act 1948; in doing so, it also formally left the
Commonwealth. While Ireland had not actively participated in the Commonwealth
since the early 1930s, other dominions wished to become republics without losing
Commonwealth ties. The issue came to a head in April 1949 at a Commonwealth
prime ministers' meeting in London. Under the London Declaration, India agreed
that, when it became a republic in January 1950, it would accept the British
Sovereign as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations
and as such the Head of the Commonwealth". Upon hearing this, King George
VI told the Indian politician Krishna Menon: "So, I've become 'as such'". The other
Commonwealth countries recognised India's continuing membership of the
association. At Pakistan's insistence, India was not regarded as an exceptional case
and it was assumed that other states would be accorded the same treatment as India.
[citation needed]

The London Declaration is often seen as marking the beginning of the modern
Commonwealth. Following India's precedent, other nations became republics,
or constitutional monarchies with their own monarchs. While some countries
retained the same monarch as the United Kingdom, their monarchies developed
differently and soon became essentially independent of the British monarchy. The
monarch is regarded as a separate legal personality in each realm, even though the
same person is monarch of each realm.

New Commonwealth[edit]
Planners in the interwar period, like Lord Davies, who had also taken "a prominent
part in building up the League of Nations Union" in the United Kingdom, in 1932
founded the New Commonwealth Society, of whose British section Winston
Churchill became the president. This new society was aimed at the creation of an
international air force to be an arm of the League of Nations, to allow nations to
disarm and safeguard the peace.[citation needed]
The term New Commonwealth has been used in the UK (especially in the 1960s
and 1970s) to refer to recently decolonised countries, predominantly non-
white and developing. It was often used in debates about immigration from these
countries. Britain and the pre-1945 dominions became informally known as the Old
Commonwealth, or more pointedly as the white Commonwealth, in reference to
the so-called White Dominions.

Plan G and inviting Europe to join[edit]

At a time when Germany and France, together with Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands, were planning what later became the European Union, and
newly independent African countries were joining the Commonwealth, new ideas
were floated to prevent Britain from becoming isolated in economic affairs. British
trade with the Commonwealth was four times larger than its trade with Europe. In
1956 and 1957 the British government under Prime Minister Anthony
Eden considered a "Plan G" to create a European free trade zone while also
protecting the favoured status of the Commonwealth. Britain also considered
inviting Scandinavian and other European countries to join the Commonwealth, so
that it would become a major economic common market. At one point in October
1956 Eden and French Prime Minister Guy Mollet discussed having France join the
Commonwealth. Nothing came of any of the proposals.

Structure[edit]
Head of the Commonwealth[edit]
Main article: Head of the Commonwealth
Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth
Under the formula of the London Declaration, Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the
Commonwealth, a title that is by law a part of Elizabeth's royal titles in each of
the Commonwealth realms, the 16 members of the Commonwealth that recognise
the Queen as their monarch. When the monarch dies, the successor to the crown
does not automatically become Head of the Commonwealth.[41] However, at their
meeting in April 2018, Commonwealth leaders agreed that Prince Charles should
succeed his mother as head.[42] The position is symbolic, representing the free
association of independent members,[40] the majority of which (33) are republics,
and five have monarchs of different royal
houses (Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia, and Tonga).
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

The main decision-making forum of the organisation is the biennial Commonwealth

Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where Commonwealth heads of
government, including (amongst others) prime ministers and presidents, assemble
for several days to discuss matters of mutual interest. CHOGM is the successor to
the Meetings of Commonwealth Prime Ministers and, earlier, the Imperial
Conferences and Colonial Conferences, dating back to 1887. There are also regular
meetings of finance ministers, law ministers, health ministers, etc. Members in
arrears, as special members before them, are not invited to send representatives to
either ministerial meetings or CHOGMs.
The head of government hosting the CHOGM is called the Commonwealth
Chairperson-in-Office and retains the position until the following CHOGM.
[43]
 After the most recent CHOGM, the Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom became the Chairperson-in-Office, and will continue to hold the title until
the next CHOGM, scheduled to take place in Rwanda in 2020. Currently, this
position is held by Boris Johnson.
Commonwealth Secretariat[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Secretariat

Marlborough House, London, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat,

the Commonwealth's principal intergovernmental institution
The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, is the main intergovernmental
agency of the Commonwealth, facilitating consultation and co-operation among
member governments and countries. It is responsible to member governments
collectively. The Commonwealth of Nations is represented in the United Nations
General Assembly by the secretariat as an observer. The secretariat organises
Commonwealth summits, meetings of ministers, consultative meetings and technical
discussions; it assists policy development and provides policy advice, and facilitates
multilateral communication among the member governments. It also provides
technical assistance to help governments in the social and economic development of
their countries and in support of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values.
The secretariat is headed by the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is elected
by Commonwealth heads of government for no more than two four-year terms. The
secretary-general and two deputy secretaries-general direct the divisions of the
Secretariat. The present secretary-general is Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of
Asthal, from Dominica, who took office on 1 April 2016, succeeding Kamalesh
Sharma of India (2008–2016). The first secretary-general was Arnold
Smith of Canada (1965–75), followed by Sir Shridath Ramphal of Guyana (1975–
90), Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria (1990–99), and Don McKinnon of New
Zealand (2000–2008).
Commonwealth citizenship and high commissioners[edit]
Main articles: Commonwealth citizen and High commissioner (Commonwealth)

In recognition of their shared heritage and culture, Commonwealth countries are not
considered to be "foreign" to each other, although the technical extent of this
concept varies in different countries. For example, in Australia, for the purpose of
considering certain constitutional and legal provisions no distinction is made
between Commonwealth and foreign countries: in the High Court case of Sue v Hill,
other Commonwealth countries were held to be foreign powers; similarly, in Nolan
v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, the nationals of other
Commonwealth realms were held to be 'aliens'. Nevertheless, the closer association
amongst Commonwealth countries is reflected at least in the diplomatic protocols of
the Commonwealth countries. For example, when engaging bilaterally with one
another, Commonwealth governments exchange high commissioners instead
of ambassadors.
In addition, some members treat resident citizens of other Commonwealth countries
preferentially to citizens of non-Commonwealth countries. Britain and several
others, mostly in the Caribbean, grant the right to vote to Commonwealth citizens
who reside in those countries. In non-Commonwealth countries in which their own
country is not represented, Commonwealth citizens may seek consular assistance at
the British embassy although it is for the embassy to decide, in its discretion,
whether to provide any.[49] Other alternatives can also occur such as an emergency
consular services agreement between Canada and Australia that began in 1986.[50]

Membership[edit]

The members of the Commonwealth shaded according to their political status.

Commonwealth realms are shown in blue, while republics are shaded pink, and
members with their own monarchies are displayed in green.
Criteria[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria

The criteria for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations have developed over
time from a series of separate documents. The Statute of Westminster 1931, as a
fundamental founding document of the organisation, laid out that membership
required dominionhood. The 1949 London Declaration ended this, allowing
republican and indigenous monarchic members on the condition that they
recognised the British monarch as "Head of the Commonwealth".[51] In the wake of
the wave of decolonisation in the 1960s, these constitutional principles were
augmented by political, economic, and social principles. The first of these was set
out in 1961, when it was decided that respect for racial equality would be a
requirement for membership, leading directly to the withdrawal of South Africa's re-
application (which they were required to make under the formula of the London
Declaration upon becoming a republic). The 14 points of the 1971 Singapore
Declaration dedicated all members to the principles of world peace, liberty, human
rights, equality, and free trade.
These criteria were unenforceable for two decades, until, in 1991, the Harare
Declaration was issued, dedicating the leaders to applying the Singapore principles
to the completion of decolonisation, the end of the Cold War, and the end
of apartheid in South Africa. The mechanisms by which these principles would be
applied were created, and the manner clarified, by the 1995 Millbrook
Commonwealth Action Programme, which created the Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group (CMAG), which has the power to rule on whether members meet the
requirements for membership under the Harare Declaration. Also in 1995, an Inter-
Governmental Group was created to finalise and codify the full requirements for
membership. Upon reporting in 1997, as adopted under the Edinburgh Declaration,
the Inter-Governmental Group ruled that any future members would have to have a
direct constitutional link with an existing member.
In addition to this new rule, the former rules were consolidated into a single
document. These requirements are that members must accept and comply with
the Harare principles, be fully sovereign states, recognise the monarch of
the Commonwealth realms as the Head of the Commonwealth, accept the English
language as the means of Commonwealth communication, and respect the wishes of
the general population with regard to Commonwealth membership.[56] These
requirements had undergone review, and a report on potential amendments was
presented by the Committee on Commonwealth Membership at the 2007
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.[57] New members were not admitted
at this meeting, though applications for admission were considered at the 2009
CHOGM.
New members must "as a general rule" have a direct constitutional link to an
existing member. In most cases, this is due to being a former colony of the United
Kingdom, but some have links to other countries, either exclusively or more directly
(e.g. Samoa to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea to Australia, and Namibia to South
Africa). The first member to be admitted without having any constitutional link to
the British Empire or a Commonwealth member was Mozambique, a
former Portuguese colony, in 1995 following its first democratic elections and South
Africa's re-admission in 1994. Mozambique's controversial entry led to
the Edinburgh Declaration and the current membership guidelines. In
2009, Rwanda became the second Commonwealth member admitted not to have any
such constitutional links. It was a Belgian trust territory that had been a German
colony until World War I. Consideration for its admission was considered an
"exceptional circumstance" by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Members[edit]
Main article: Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
Flags of the members of the Commonwealth in Parliament Square, London

The Commonwealth flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa

The Commonwealth comprises 54 countries, across all continents. The members
have a combined population of 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world
population, of whom 1.37 billion live in India or 94% live in Asia and Africa
combined. After India, the next-largest Commonwealth countries by population
are Pakistan (220  million), Nigeria (170 million), Bangladesh (156 million), and
the United Kingdom (65 million). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with about 10,000
people.
The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about
2
31,500,000 km  (12,200,000 sq mi), or about 21% of the total world land area. The
three largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at
2 2
9,984,670 km  (3,855,100 sq mi), Australia at 7,617,930 km  (2,941,300 sq mi),
2
and India at 3,287,263 km  (1,269,219 sq mi).
The status of "Member in Arrears" is used to denote those that are in arrears in
paying subscription dues. The status was originally known as "special membership",
but was renamed on the Committee on Commonwealth Membership's
recommendation. There are currently no Members in Arrears. The most recent
Member in Arrears, Nauru, returned to full membership in June 2011. Nauru has
alternated between special and full membership since joining the Commonwealth,
depending on its financial situation.
Economy of member countries[edit]
Main article: List of Commonwealth of Nations countries by GDP (nominal)
In 2019, the Commonwealth members had a combined gross domestic product of
over $9 trillion, 78% of which is accounted for by the four largest
economies: India ($3.010 trillion), United
Kingdom ($2.743 trillion), Canada ($1.652 trillion), and Australia ($1.379 trillion).
Applicants[edit]
See also: Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria § Prospective members

In 1997 the Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that, to become a member

of the Commonwealth, an applicant country should, as a rule, have had a
constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth member; that it should
comply with Commonwealth values, principles and priorities as set out in the Harare
Declaration; and that it should accept Commonwealth norms and conventions.
South Sudanese politicians have expressed interest in joining the Commonwealth. A
senior Commonwealth source stated in 2006 that "many people have assumed an
interest from Israel, but there has been no formal approach". The State of
Palestine is also a potential candidate for membership.[71]
President Yahya Jammeh unilaterally withdrew The Gambia from the
Commonwealth in October 2013. However, newly elected president Adama
Barrow returned the country to the organisation in February 2018.[73]
Other eligible applicants could be any of the remaining inhabited British overseas
territories, Crown dependencies, Australian external territories and the Associated
States of New Zealand if they become fully independent. Many such jurisdictions
are already directly represented within the Commonwealth, particularly through
the Commonwealth Family. There are also former British possessions that have not
become independent, for example, Hong Kong, which still participates in some of
the institutions within the Commonwealth Family. All three Crown
dependencies regard the existing situation as unsatisfactory and have lobbied for
change. The States of Jersey have called on the UK Foreign Secretary to request that
the Commonwealth Heads of Government "consider granting associate membership
to Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies as well as any other territories at a
similarly advanced stage of autonomy". Jersey has proposed that it be accorded
"self-representation in all Commonwealth meetings; full participation in debates and
procedures, with a right to speak where relevant and the opportunity to enter into
discussions with those who are full members; and no right to vote in the Ministerial
or Heads of Government meetings, which is reserved for full members". The States
of Guernsey and the Government of the Isle of Man have made calls of a similar
nature for a more integrated relationship with the Commonwealth, [77] including more
direct representation and enhanced participation in Commonwealth organisations
and meetings, including Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings. The Chief
Minister of the Isle of Man has said: "A closer connection with the Commonwealth
itself would be a welcome further development of the Island's international
relationships".
At the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956, in the face of colonial unrest and
international tensions, French Premier Guy Mollet proposed to British Prime
Minister Anthony Eden that their two countries be joined in a "union". When that
proposal was turned down, Mollet suggested that France join the Commonwealth,
possibly with "a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis". Talks
regarding a form of union faded away with the end of the Suez crisis.
Suspension[edit]
Main article: Suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations

In recent years, the Commonwealth has suspended several members "from the
Councils of the Commonwealth" for "serious or persistent violations" of the Harare
Declaration, particularly in abrogating their responsibility to have democratic
government. This is done by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action
Group (CMAG), which meets regularly to address potential breaches of the Harare
Declaration. Suspended members are not represented at meetings of Commonwealth
leaders and ministers, although they remain members of the organisation. Currently,
there are no suspended members.[citation needed]
Nigeria was suspended between 11 November 1995 and 29 May 1999, following its
execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa on the eve of the 1995 CHOGM. Pakistan was the
second country to be suspended, on 18 October 1999, following the military
coup by Pervez Musharraf. The Commonwealth's longest suspension came to an end
on 22 May 2004, when Pakistan's suspension was lifted following the restoration
of the country's constitution. Pakistan was suspended for a second time, far more
briefly, for six months from 22 November 2007, when Musharraf called a state of
emergency. Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 over concerns regarding the electoral
and land reform policies of Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government, before it
withdrew from the organisation in 2003. On 15 May 2018, Zimbabwe applied to
rejoin the Commonwealth.
The declaration of a Republic in Fiji in 1987, after military coups designed to
deny Indo-Fijians political power, was not accompanied by an application to remain.
Commonwealth membership was held to have lapsed until 1997, after
discriminatory provisions in the republican constitution were repealed and
reapplication for membership made. Fiji has since been suspended twice, with the
first imposed from 6 June 2000 to 20 December 2001 after another coup. Fiji was
suspended yet again in December 2006, following the most recent coup. At first, the
suspension applied only to membership on the Councils of the Commonwealth.
After failing to meet a Commonwealth deadline for setting a date for national
elections by 2010, Fiji was "fully suspended" on 1 September 2009. The Secretary-
General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, confirmed that full suspension
meant that Fiji would be excluded from Commonwealth meetings, sporting
events and the technical assistance programme (with an exception for assistance in
re-establishing democracy). Sharma stated that Fiji would remain a member of the
Commonwealth during its suspension, but would be excluded from emblematic
representation by the secretariat. On 19 March 2014 Fiji's full suspension was
amended to a suspension from councils of the Commonwealth by the
Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, permitting Fiji to join a number of
Commonwealth activities, including the Commonwealth Games. Fiji's suspension
was lifted in September 2014. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group fully
reinstated Fiji as a member following elections in September 2014.
Most recently, during 2013 and 2014, international pressure mounted to suspend Sri
Lanka from the Commonwealth, citing grave human rights violations by the
government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There were also calls to change
the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 from Sri Lanka to another
member country. Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper threatened to boycott the
event, but was instead represented at the meeting by Deepak Obhrai. UK Prime
Minister David Cameron also chose to attend. These concerns were rendered moot
by the election of opposition leader Maithripala Sirisena as President in 2015.
Termination[edit]
As membership is purely voluntary, member governments can choose at any time to
leave the Commonwealth. Pakistan left on 30 January 1972 in protest at the
Commonwealth's recognition of breakaway Bangladesh, but rejoined on 2 August
1989. Zimbabwe's membership was suspended in 2002 on the grounds of alleged
human rights violations and deliberate misgovernment, and Zimbabwe's government
terminated its membership in 2003. The Gambia left the Commonwealth on 3
October 2013,  and rejoined on 8 February 2018. The Maldives withdrew from the
Commonwealth on 13 October 2016. The Maldivian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs stated that "the Commonwealth has not recognised [...] the progress and
achievements that the Maldives accomplished in cultivating a culture of democracy
in the country and in building and strengthening democratic institutions". The
Ministry also cited the Commonwealth's "punitive actions against the Maldives
since 2012" after the allegedly forced resignation of Maldivian President Mohamed
Nasheed among the reasons for withdrawal. The Ministry characterized the decision
to withdraw as "difficult, but inevitable".Following the election of Ibrahim
Mohamed Solih as president in November 2018, the Maldives announced its
intention to reapply to join the Commonwealth. They rejoined on 1 February 2020.
Although heads of government have the power to suspend member states from
active participation, the Commonwealth has no provision for the expulsion of
members.
Until 1948, there was a consensus among the existing half-dozen Commonwealth
members that Commonwealth realms that became a republic would cease to be
members but the situation changed in 1948 when newly-independent India
announced its intention to become a republic on 1 January 1950 although it wished
to remain in the Commonwealth. This was granted. Now, the majority of the
Commonwealth members, including all those from Africa, are republics or have
their own native monarch.
Ireland withdrew from participation in the Commonwealth in the 1930s, attending
its last Commonwealth governmental heads' meeting in 1932. For some years
Ireland considered itself to be a republic outside the Commonwealth but the
Commonwealth considered Ireland to still be a Commonwealth member. Its
treatment as a member ended on 18 April 1949 when Irish legislation that the
Commonwealth chose to regard as having caused Ireland to become a republic
became law. It is the only country whose membership terminated without any
declaration withdrawing from the organisation. Instead, it was (with its own tacit
support) excluded from the organisation.
South Africa was barred from continuing as a member after it became a republic in
1961, due to hostility from many members, particularly those in Africa and Asia as
well as Canada, to its policy of racial apartheid. The South African government
withdrew its application to remain in the organisation as a republic when it became
clear at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference that any such
application would be rejected. South Africa was re-admitted to the Commonwealth
in 1994, following its first multiracial elections that year.
The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 ended the colony's status as a
part of the Commonwealth through the United Kingdom. Non-sovereign states or
regions are not permitted to become members of the Commonwealth. The
government of the People's Republic of China has not pursued membership. Hong
Kong has nevertheless continued to participate in some of the organisations of
the Commonwealth family, such as the Commonwealth Lawyers
Association (hosted the Commonwealth Lawyers Conference in 1983 and 2009),
the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (and the Westminster Seminar on
Parliamentary Practice and Procedures), the Association of Commonwealth
Universities and the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel.

Politics[edit]
Objectives and activities[edit]
The Commonwealth's objectives were first outlined in the 1971 Singapore
Declaration, which committed the Commonwealth to the institution of world peace;
promotion of representative democracy and individual liberty; the pursuit of
equality and opposition to racism; the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease;
and free trade. To these were added opposition to discrimination on the basis of
gender by the Lusaka Declaration of 1979, and environmental sustainability by
the Langkawi Declaration of 1989.[107] These objectives were reinforced by
the Harare Declaration in 1991.
The Commonwealth's current highest-priority aims are on the promotion of
democracy and development, as outlined in the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration, which
built on those in Singapore and Harare and clarified their terms of reference, stating,
"We are committed to democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equality,
and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalisation." The Commonwealth
website lists its areas of work as: democracy, economics, education, gender,
governance, human rights, law, small states, sport, sustainability, and youth.
Through a separate voluntary fund, Commonwealth governments support
the Commonwealth Youth Programme, a division of the Secretariat with offices
in Gulu (Uganda), Lusaka (Zambia), Chandigarh (India), Georgetown (Guyana)
and Honiara (Solomon Islands).[citation needed]
Competence[edit]
In recent years, the Commonwealth has been accused of not being vocal enough on
its core values. Allegations of a leaked memo from the Secretary General instructing
staff not to speak out on human rights were published in October 2010.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011 considered a report by
a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (EPG) panel which asserted that the
organisation had lost its relevance and was decaying due to the lack of a mechanism
to censure member countries when they violated human rights or democratic
norms. The panel made 106 "urgent" recommendations including the adoption of a
Charter of the Commonwealth, the creation of a new commissioner on the rule of
law, democracy and human rights to track persistent human rights abuses and
allegations of political repression by Commonwealth member states,
recommendations for the repeal of laws against homosexuality in 41
Commonwealth states and a ban on forced marriage. The failure to release the
report, or accept its recommendations for reforms in the area of human rights,
democracy and the rule of law, was decried as a "disgrace" by former British
Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a member of the EPG, who told a press
conference: "The Commonwealth faces a very significant problem. It's not a
problem of hostility or antagonism, it's more of a problem of indifference. Its
purpose is being questioned, its relevance is being questioned and part of that is
because its commitment to enforce the values for which it stands is becoming
ambiguous in the eyes of many member states. The Commonwealth is not a private
club of the governments or the secretariat. It belongs to the people of the
Commonwealth."
In the end, two-thirds of the EPG's 106 urgently recommended reforms were
referred to study groups, an act described by one EPG member as having them
"kicked into the long grass". There was no agreement to create the recommended
position of human rights commissioner, instead a ministerial management group
was empowered with enforcement: the group includes alleged human rights
offenders. It was agreed to develop a charter of values for the Commonwealth
without any decision on how compliance with its principles would be enforced.[113]
The result of the effort was that a new Charter of the Commonwealth was signed by
Queen Elizabeth on 11 March 2013 at Marlborough House, which opposes "all
forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political
belief or other grounds".[116][117]

Economy[edit]
Economic data by member[edit]

Economies of the Commonwealth of Nations 2012 

Postwar[edit]
During the Second World War, the Commonwealth played a major role in helping
British finances. Foreign exchange reserves were pooled in London, to be used to
fight the war. In effect Britain procured £2.3 billion, of which £1.3 billion was from
India. The debt was held in the form of British government securities and became
known as "sterling balances". By 1950, India, Pakistan and Ceylon had spent much
of their sterling, while other countries accumulated more. The sterling area that
included all of the Commonwealth except for Canada, together with some smaller
countries especially in the Persian Gulf. They held their foreign-exchange in
sterling, protecting that currency from runs, and facilitating trade and investment
inside the Commonwealth. It was a formal relationship with fixed exchange rates,
and periodic meetings at Commonwealth summits to coordinate trade policy, and
domestic economic policies. Britain ran a trade surplus, and the other countries were
mostly producers of raw materials sold to Britain. However the commercial
rationale was gradually less attractive to the Commonwealth. Access to the growing
London capital market, however, remained an important advantage to the newly
independent nations. As Britain moved increasingly close to Europe, however, the
long-term ties began to be in doubt.
UK joins the European Economic Community[edit]
Britain had focused on the Commonwealth after the war, and largely ignored links
with Europe. By the 1960s with a sluggish economy Britain tried repeatedly to join
the European Economic Community, but this was repeatedly vetoed by Charles de
Gaulle. After his death, entry was finally achieved in 1972. Queen Elizabeth was
one of the few remaining links between the UK and the Commonwealth. She tried to
reassure the other countries that the Commonwealth family was joining forces with
the Europeans, and that the new links would not replace the old Commonwealth ties
based on historical attachments, which were too sacred to break. Historian Ben
Pimlott argues that she was mistaken, for joining Europe, "constituted the most
decisive step yet in the progress of severance of familial ties between Britain and its
former Empire....It reduced the remaining links to sentimental and cultural ones, and
legal niceties."
The newly independent countries of Africa and Asia concentrated on their own
internal political and economic development, and sometimes with their role in
the Cold War. The United States, international agencies, and the Soviet Union
became important players, and the British role receded. Indeed, the British
considered them burdensome and were themselves alienated from traditional
imperialism. Many former colonies saw Britain as a declining loner and would
rather have a prosperous Britain linked to a prosperous Europe. The dominions saw
their historic ties with Britain were rapidly fraying. The Canadian economy
increasingly focused on trade with the United States, and had less to do with Britain
or other Commonwealth nations. Internal Canadian disputes revolved around the
growing American cultural economic presence, and the strong force of Quebec
nationalism. In 1964 the Maple Leaf flag replaced the Canadian Ensign to
the sorrow of many Anglophiles—it was "the last gasp of empire".Australia and
New Zealand were in deep shock but kept a low profile not wanting to alienate
London. Nevertheless, the implications of British entry into Europe:
seemed shattering to most Australians, particularly to older people and
conservatives. In fact the United Kingdom, as Australia's chief trading
partner, was being very rapidly replaced just at this time by the United States
and an economically resurgent Japan, but most people were scarcely aware of
this.... It was feared that British entry into the Common Market was bound to
mean abolition, or at least scaling down, of preferential tariff arrangements
for Australians goods.
Trade[edit]
Further information: Commonwealth free trade

Although the Commonwealth does not have a multilateral trade agreement,

research by the Royal Commonwealth Society has shown that trade with another
Commonwealth member is up to 50% more than with a non-member on average,
with smaller and less wealthy states having a higher propensity to trade within
the Commonwealth. At the 2005 Summit in Malta, the heads of government
endorsed pursuing free trade among Commonwealth members on a bilateral
basis.
Following its vote in June 2016 to leave the EU, some politicians in the United
Kingdom have suggested the idea as an alternative to its membership in
the European Union, however it is far from clear that this would either offer
sufficient economic benefit to replace the impact of leaving the EU or be
acceptable to other member states Although the EU is already in the process of
negotiating free trade agreements with many Commonwealth countries such as
India and Canada, it took the EU almost ten years to come to an agreement with
Canada, due to the challenge associated with achieving the necessary EU-wide
approvals.

Commonwealth Family[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Family

Commonwealth countries share many links outside government, with over a

hundred Commonwealth-wide non-governmental organisations, notably for
sport, culture, education, law and charity. The Association of Commonwealth
Universities is an important vehicle for academic links, particularly through
scholarships, principally the Commonwealth Scholarship, for students to study
in universities in other Commonwealth countries. There are also many non-
official associations that bring together individuals who work within the spheres
of law and government, such as the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and
the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Commonwealth Foundation[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation, resourced

by and reporting to Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth
values and priorities. Its mandate is to strengthen civil society in the achievement
of Commonwealth priorities: democracy and good governance, respect for
human rights and gender equality, poverty eradication, people-centred and
sustainable development, and to promote arts and culture.[citation needed]
The Foundation was established in 1965 by the Heads of Government.
Admittance is open to all members of the Commonwealth, and in December
2008, stood at 46 out of the 53 member countries. Associate Membership, which
is open to associated states or overseas territories of member governments, has
been granted to Gibraltar. 2005 saw celebrations for the Foundation's 40th
Anniversary. The Foundation is headquartered in Marlborough House, Pall Mall,
London. Regular liaison and co-operation between the Secretariat and the
Foundation is in place. The Foundation continues to serve the broad purposes for
which it was established as written in the Memorandum of Understanding.
Commonwealth Games[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games are the third-largest multi-sport event in the world,
bringing together globally popular sports and peculiarly "Commonwealth"
sports, such as rugby sevens, shown here at the 2006 Games.
The Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event, is held every four years;
the 2014 Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland, and the 2018
Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Birmingham is set to be the
host for 2022 Commonwealth Games. As well as the usual athletic disciplines,
as at the Summer Olympic Games, the games include sports particularly popular
in the Commonwealth, such as bowls, netball, and rugby sevens. Started in 1930
as the Empire Games, the games were founded on the Olympic model
of amateurism, but were deliberately designed to be "the Friendly Games", with
the goal of promoting relations between Commonwealth countries and
celebrating their shared sporting and cultural heritage.
The games are the Commonwealth's most visible activity and interest in the
operation of the Commonwealth increases greatly when the Games are held.
There is controversy over whether the games—and sport generally—should be
involved in the Commonwealth's wider political concerns. The 1977 Gleneagles
Agreement was signed to commit Commonwealth countries to
combat apartheid through discouraging sporting contact with South
Africa (which was not then a member), whilst the 1986 games were boycotted
by most African, Asian, and Caribbean countries for the failure of other
countries to enforce the Gleneagles Agreement.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission serves to commemorate
1.7 million Commonwealth war dead and maintains 2,500 war cemeteries
around the world, including this one in Gallipoli.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is responsible for
maintaining the war graves of 1.7 million service personnel that died in the First
and Second World Wars fighting for Commonwealth member states. Founded in
1917 (as the Imperial War Graves Commission), the Commission has
constructed 2,500 war cemeteries, and maintains individual graves at another
20,000 sites around the world. The vast majority of the latter are civilian
cemeteries in Britain. In 1998, the CWGC made the records of its buried online
to facilitate easier searching.
Commonwealth war cemeteries often feature similar horticulture and
architecture, with larger cemeteries being home to a Cross of Sacrifice and Stone
of Remembrance. The CWGC is notable for marking the graves identically,
regardless of the rank, country of origin, race, or religion of the buried. [145][note 1] It
is funded by voluntary agreement by six Commonwealth members, in proportion
to the nationality of the casualties in the graves maintained, with 75% of the
funding coming from Britain.
Commonwealth of Learning[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth of Learning

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation

created by the Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing
of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.
COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and
training.[citation needed]
Commonwealth Local Government Forum[edit]
Main article: Commonwealth Local Government Forum

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) is a global local

government organisation, bringing together local authorities, their national
associations and the ministries responsible for local government in the member
countries of the Commonwealth. CLGF works with national and local
governments to support the development of democratic values and good local
governance and is the associated organisation officially recognised
by Commonwealth Heads of Government as the representative body for local
government in the Commonwealth.
CLGF is unique in bringing together central, provincial and local spheres of
government involved in local government policy and decision-making. CLGF
members include local government associations, individual local authorities,
ministries dealing with local government, and research and professional
organisations who work with local government. Practitioner to practitioner
support is at the core of CLGF's work across the Commonwealth and within the
region, using CLGF's own members to support others both within and between
regions. CLGF is a member of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional
Governments, the formal partner of the UN Major Group of Local Authorities.

Culture[edit]
Many Commonwealth nations possess traditions and customs that are elements
of a shared Commonwealth culture. Examples include common sports such
as cricket and rugby, driving on the left, the Westminster
system of parliamentary democracy, common law, widespread use of the English
language, designation of English as an official language, military and naval
ranks, and the use of British rather than American spelling conventions
(see English in the Commonwealth of Nations).[citation needed]
Sport[edit]
Many Commonwealth nations play similar sports that are considered
quintessentially British in character, rooted in and developed under British rule
or hegemony, including cricket, soccer, rugby and netball. This has led to the
development of friendly national rivalries between the main sporting nations that
have often defined their relations with each other. Indeed, said rivalries
preserved close ties by providing a constant in international relationships, even
as the Empire transformed into the Commonwealth. Externally, playing these
sports is seen to be a sign of sharing a certain Commonwealth culture; the
adoption of cricket at schools in Rwanda is seen as symbolic of the country's
move towards Commonwealth membership.
Besides the Commonwealth Games, other sporting competitions are organised
on a Commonwealth basis, through championship tournaments such as
the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships, Commonwealth Fencing
Championships, Commonwealth Judo Championships, Commonwealth Rowing
Championships, Commonwealth Sailing Championships, Commonwealth
Shooting Championships and Commonwealth Pool Lifesaving Championships.
The Commonwealth Boxing Council has long maintained Commonwealth titles
for the best boxers in the Commonwealth.[citation needed]
Literature[edit]
See also: Postcolonial literature and Migrant literature

The shared history of British presence has produced a substantial body of writing
in many languages, known as Commonwealth literature. The Association for
Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies has 11 branches worldwide and
holds an international conference every three years.
In 1987, the Commonwealth Foundation established the annual Commonwealth
Writers' Prize "to encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth
fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their
country of origin". Prizes are awarded for the best book and best first book in the
Commonwealth; there are also regional prizes for the best book and best first
book in each of four regions. Although not officially affiliated with the
Commonwealth, the prestigious annual Man Booker Prize, one of the highest
honours in literature, used to be awarded only to authors from Commonwealth
countries or former members such as Ireland and Zimbabwe. Since 2014,
however, writers of any nationality have been eligible for the prize providing
that they write originally in English and their novels are published by established
publishers in the United Kingdom.
There had been a few important works in English prior to 1950 from the
then British Empire. From 1950 on, a significant number of writers from the
countries of the Commonwealth began gaining international recognition,
including some who migrated to the United Kingdom.
The South African writer Olive Schreiner's famous novel The Story of an
African Farm was published in 1883 and New Zealander Katherine
Mansfield published her first collection of short stories, In a German Pension, in
1911. The first major novelist, writing in English, from the Indian sub-
continent, R. K. Narayan, began publishing in England in the 1930s, thanks to
the encouragement of English novelist Graham Greene. Caribbean writer Jean
Rhys's writing career began as early as 1928, though her most famous
work, Wide Sargasso Sea, was not published until 1966. South Africa's Alan
Paton's famous Cry, the Beloved Country dates from 1948. Doris
Lessing from Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was a dominant presence in
the English literary scene, frequently publishing from 1950 on throughout the
20th century. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.
Salman Rushdie is another post-Second World War writer from the former
British colonies who permanently settled in Britain. Rushdie achieved fame
with Midnight's Children (1981). His most controversial novel, The Satanic
Verses (1989), was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. V. S.
Naipaul (born 1932), born in Trinidad, was another immigrant, who wrote
among other things A Bend in the River (1979). Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 2001.
Many other Commonwealth writers have achieved an international reputation for
works in English, including Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, and
playwright Wole Soyinka. Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, as
did South African novelist Nadine Gordimer in 1995. Other South African
writers in English are novelist J. M. Coetzee (Nobel Prize 2003) and
playwright Athol Fugard. Kenya's most internationally renowned author
is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, who has written novels, plays and short stories in English.
Poet Derek Walcott, from Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, was another Nobel Prize
winner in 1992. An Australian, Patrick White, a major novelist in this period,
whose first work was published in 1939, won in 1973. Other noteworthy
Australian writers at the end of this period are poet Les Murray, and
novelist Peter Carey, who is one of only four writers to have won the Booker
Prize twice.
Political system[edit]
Due to their shared constitutional histories, several countries in the
Commonwealth have similar legal and political systems. The Commonwealth
requires its members to be functioning democracies that respect human
rights and the rule of law. Most Commonwealth countries have the
bicameral Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association facilitates co-operation between legislatures across
the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth Local Government
Forum promotes good governance amongst local government officials. Most
Commonwealth members use common law, modelled on English law.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the supreme court of 14
Commonwealth members.
Symbols[edit]
The Commonwealth has adopted a number of symbols that represent the
association of its members. The English language is recognised as a symbol of
the members' heritage; as well as being considered a symbol of the
Commonwealth, recognition of it as "the means of Commonwealth
communication" is a prerequisite for Commonwealth membership. The flag of
the Commonwealth consists of the symbol of the Commonwealth Secretariat, a
gold globe surrounded by emanating rays, on a dark blue field; it was designed
for the second CHOGM in 1973, and officially adopted on 26 March 1976. 1976
also saw the organisation agree to a common date on which to
commemorate Commonwealth Day, the second Monday in March, having
developed separately on different dates from Empire Day celebrations.
Recognition[edit]
In 2009, to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth,
the Royal Commonwealth Society commissioned a poll of public opinion in
seven of the member states: Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, South
Africa and the United Kingdom. It found that most people in these countries
were largely ignorant of the Commonwealth's activities, aside from
the Commonwealth Games, and indifferent toward its future. Support for the
Commonwealth was twice as high in developing countries as in developed
countries; it was lowest in Britain.
Commonwealth Anthem[edit]
Also to mark the 60th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee) of the Commonwealth in
2009, the Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned Paul Carroll to compose
"The Commonwealth Anthem". The lyrics of the Anthem are taken from the
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[168] The Commonwealth has
published the Anthem, performed by the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, with
and without an introductory narrative.[169][170]
 See also[edit]

 Anglosphere
 Commonwealth
 Special Relationship, the common name for the relations between the United
Kingdom and the United States
 Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of Post-Soviet
states outside the European Union
 Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an equivalent grouping
of Portuguese-speaking countries and territories
 English-speaking world
 La Francophonie
 List of country groupings
 List of multilateral free-trade agreements
 List of Commonwealth of Nations countries by GDP
 Organization of Ibero-American States
 Representatives of the Commonwealth of Nations

Notes[edit]

1. ^ Each headstone contains the national emblem or regimental badge,

rank, name, unit, date of death and age of each casualty inscribed above
an appropriate religious symbol and a more personal dedication chosen by
relatives.[146]

4. Politics of the United Kingdom

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"British politics" redirects here. For the academic journal of the same name,
see British Politics (journal).

See also: Politics of England, Politics of Northern Ireland, Politics of Scotland,

and Politics of Wales

Politics of the United Kingdom

Royal Coat of Arms

Polity type Unitary parliamentary

democratic constitutional
monarchy

Constitution Constitution of the United

Kingdom

Legislative branch

Name Parliament

Type Bicameral

Meeting place Palace of Westminster

Upper house

Name House of Lords

Presiding The Lord Fowler, Lord

officer Speaker

Lower house

Name House of Commons

Presiding Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker

officer of the House of Commons

Executive branch

Head of State

Title Monarch
Currently Elizabeth II

Appointer Hereditary

Head of Government

Title Prime Minister

Currently Boris Johnson

Appointer Monarch

Cabinet

Name Cabinet of the United

Kingdom

Current Second Johnson ministry

cabinet

Leader Prime Minister

Appointer Monarch

Headquarters 10 Downing Street

Ministries 25

Judicial branch

Name Judiciary

Supreme Court

Chief judge Lord Reed of Allermuir

Seat Middlesex Guildhall

High Court of Justiciary

Chief judge Lord Carloway

Seat Parliament House

 This article is part of a series on the

Politics of the United Kingdom

Constitution[show]

The Crown[show]

Executive[show]

Legislature[show]

Judiciary[show]

Bank of England[show]

Elections[show]

Devolution[show]

Administration[show]

Crown dependencies[show]

Overseas Territories[show]

Foreign relations[show]

 United Kingdom portal

 Other countries
Organisational chart of the UK political system
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the
framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which
the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state while the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Boris Johnson, is the head of
government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of
and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments
of Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive. Legislative power is
vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of
Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments
and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive
and the legislature. The highest court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two dominant
parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the Labour
Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party,
along with the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been
an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral
system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two
parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party, such as
the Liberal Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament.
A Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government held office from 2010 until
2015, the first coalition since 1945. The coalition ended following parliamentary
elections on 7 May 2015, in which the Conservative Party won an outright majority
of 330 seats in the House of Commons, while their coalition partners lost all but
eight seats.
With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920,
though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist
parties in Scotland and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s, though
only in the 1990s did devolution happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland each possess a legislature and executive, with devolution in Northern Ireland
being conditional on participation in certain all-Ireland institutions. The UK
government remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of
Northern Ireland, co-operates with the government of the Republic of Ireland.
It is a matter of dispute as to whether increased autonomy and devolution of
executive and legislative powers has contributed to the increase in support for
independence. The principal Scottish pro-independence party, the Scottish National
Party, became a minority government in 2007 and then went on to win an overall
majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish parliament elections and forms the Scottish
Government administration. A 2014 referendum on independence led to a rejection
of the proposal but with 44.7% voting for it. In Northern Ireland, there are also Irish
nationalist parties. The largest, Sinn Féin, not only advocates Irish reunification, but
its members also abstain from taking their elected seats in the Westminster
parliament, as this would entail taking a pledge of allegiance to the British monarch.
The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up
of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements such as EU law. This
system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by
other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into
two categories: the Crown dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK,
and British Overseas Territories, which originated as colonies of the British Empire.

Main articles: Postwar Britain, History of the United Kingdom § Victorian

era, Republic of Ireland, and Political history of the United Kingdom (1945–
present)

 Treaty of Union agreed by commissioners for each parliament on 22 July

1706.
 Acts of Union 1707, passed by both the Parliament of England and
the Parliament of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
 Act of Union 1800, passed by both the Parliament of Great Britain and
the Parliament of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland.
 Government of Ireland Act 1920, passed by the Parliament of the United
Kingdom and created the partition of Ireland. The republican southern part of
Ireland became Republic of Ireland (also known as Eire), leaving Northern
Ireland part of the union.
 The Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities
(EC) took effect on 1 January 1973.
 The UK withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020.

The Crown[edit]
Main article: Monarchy of the United Kingdom

The British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state of the United

Kingdom. Though she takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the
fount in which ultimate executive power over government lies. These powers are
known as royal prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the
issue or withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the Prime Minister or even the
declaration of war. The powers are delegated from the monarch personally, in the
name of the Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other officers of the
Crown, and can purposely bypass the consent of Parliament.
The head of Her Majesty's Government, the prime minister, also has weekly
meetings with the sovereign, where she may express her feelings, warn, or advise
the prime minister in the government's work.
According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has
the following powers:
Domestic powers

 The power to dismiss and appoint a prime minister

 The power to dismiss and appoint other ministers
 The power to summon and prorogue Parliament
 The power to grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and
law)
 The power to commission officers in the Armed Forces
 The power to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom
 The power to appoint members to the Queen's Counsel
 The power to issue and withdraw passports
 The power to grant prerogative of mercy (though capital punishment is
abolished, this power is still used to change sentences)
 The power to grant honours
 The power to create corporations via Royal Charter
Foreign powers

 The power to ratify and make treaties

 The power to declare war and peace
 The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
 The power to recognize states
 The power to credit and receive diplomats

Executive[edit]
Executive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign,
Queen Elizabeth II, via Her Majesty's Government and the devolved national
authorities - the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and
the Northern Ireland Executive.
The United Kingdom Government[edit]
The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government in
the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should
be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a
Government with the support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of
the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is
chosen to be the Prime Minister. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of
the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime
Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as
political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most
senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers
in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all
ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in
the House of Lords.
As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon
the Westminster System), the executive (called "the government") is drawn from
and is answerable to Parliament - a successful vote of no confidence will force the
government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general
election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly
controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the
government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to
be unable to pass legislation.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet[edit]
The Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. They are responsible
for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in
Her Majesty's government), and formulating government policy. The Prime
Minister being the de facto leader of the UK, he or she exercises executive functions
that are nominally vested in the sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives).
Historically, the British monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the
government. However, following the lead of the Hanoverian monarchs, an
arrangement of a "Prime Minister" chairing and leading the Cabinet began to
emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective executive branch of
government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the British government
away from the sovereign.
Theoretically, the Prime Minister is primus inter pares (i.e., Latin for "first among
equals") among their Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister is the senior
Cabinet Minister, they are theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a
collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet, along with the PM,
consists of Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord
High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Board of
Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio.
Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in session.
Government departments and the Civil Service[edit]
The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known
mainly, though not exclusively as departments, e.g., Department for Education.
These are politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of
State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of
junior Ministers. In practice, several government departments and Ministers have
responsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having
responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (for example -
the Department of Health), or responsibilities that mainly focus on England (such as
the Department for Education).
Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically
neutral organisation known as the civil service. Its constitutional role is to support
the Government of the day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike
some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of
Government. Administrative management of the Department is led by a head civil
servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The majority of the
civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational
organisations reporting to Departments of State.
"Whitehall" is often used as a metonym for the central core of the Civil Service.
This is because most Government Departments have headquarters in and around the
former Royal Palace Whitehall.
Devolved national administrations[edit]

Scottish Government[edit]
Main article: Scottish Government

The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues that are not
explicitly reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster, by
the Scotland Act; including NHS Scotland, education, justice, rural affairs,
and transport. It manages an annual budget of more than £25 billion. The
government is led by the First Minister, assisted by various Ministers with
individual portfolios and remits. The Scottish Parliament nominates a Member to be
appointed as First Minister by the Queen. The First Minister then appoints their
Ministers (now known as Cabinet Secretaries) and junior Ministers, subject to
approval by the Parliament. The First Minister, the Ministers (but not junior
ministers), the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are the Members of the
'Scottish Executive', as set out in the Scotland Act 1998. They are collectively
known as "the Scottish Ministers".
Welsh Government[edit]
Main article: Welsh Government

The Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have more limited
powers than those devolved to Scotland, although following the passing of
the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum, the
Assembly can now legislate in some areas through an Act of the National Assembly
for Wales. Following the 2011 election, Welsh Labour held exactly half of the seats
in the Assembly, falling just short of an overall majority. A Welsh Labour
Government was subsequently formed headed by Carwyn Jones.
Northern Ireland Executive[edit]
Main article: Northern Ireland Executive

The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those already

devolved to Scotland. The Northern Ireland Executive is led by a diarchy, most
recently First Minister Arlene Foster (Democratic Unionist Party) and deputy First
Minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin). The two positions are currently vacant
and there has been no Executive since January 2017 because of the Renewable Heat
Incentive scandal and the failure to form a government following the
Assembly's snap election in March 2017.

Legislatures[edit]
The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i.e.,
there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and answerable
to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House
of Lords. There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and devolved Assemblies in
Wales and Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority.
UK Parliament[edit]
House of Commons[edit]
Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster
Main article: British House of Commons
The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into
parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary
Commissions. Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House
of Commons at general elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there
are 650 constituencies (there were 646 before that year's general election). At the
2017 general election, of the 650 MPs, all but one - Lady Sylvia Hermon - were
elected as representatives of a political party. However, as of 2019, there are
currently 11 independent MPs, who have either chosen to leave their political party
or have had the whip withdrawn.
In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been
drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his
peerages days after becoming Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister
before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquess of Salisbury).
One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past
the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two
party system. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a
government simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something
which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional
circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' with a
parliamentary minority which in the event of no party having a majority requires the
formation of a coalition government or 'confidence and supply' arrangement. This
option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was
given in 1916 to Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in
1940 to Winston Churchill. A government is not formed by a vote of the House of
Commons, it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its
first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on
the Speech from the Throne (the legislative programme proposed by the new
government).
House of Lords[edit]
Main article: House of Lords

The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber,

although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently midway through
extensive reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords Act
1999. The house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords
Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life
peers with no hereditary right for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-
two remaining hereditary peers, elected from among, and by, the holders of titles
which previously gave a seat in the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent
the established Church of England and number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees
(Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and Durham), and the 21 next-most senior
bishops.
The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of
Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive
veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months.
However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of
the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the "money bills" or
major manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can
also be overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act 1911.
Often governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid both the time
delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords. However the
Lords still retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of Parliament
beyond the 5-year term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the
United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords.
The House of Lords was replaced as the final court of appeal on civil cases within
the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, by the Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom.
Devolved national legislatures[edit]
Main article: Devolution in the United Kingdom

Though the UK parliament remains the sovereign

parliament, Scotland and Wales have devolved parliaments and Northern Ireland has
an assembly. De jure, each could have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed
by an Act of the UK Parliament. The UK is a unitary state with a devolved system
of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or
state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional right to exist
and a right to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and
cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of the central parliament.
All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation:
the Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single
Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.
England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have its own devolved
parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in
regard to the West Lothian Question, which is raised where certain policies for
England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies
for Scotland or Wales might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators
from those countries alone. Alternative proposals for English regional government
have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for
the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in
favour of the idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread
support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs. England is
therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole of the
United Kingdom.
The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly
although several pressure groups  are calling for one. One of their main arguments is
that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers.
Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England
but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the
Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is an
MP for a Scottish constituency, introduced some laws that only affect England and
not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.
The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional
assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these,
established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were
abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East
England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in
eight regions of England.
Scottish Parliament[edit]
Main article: Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament Building in Holyrood, Edinburgh, seat of the Scottish

Parliament.
The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
The Scottish Parliament is the national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located
in the Holyrood area of the capital Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred
to as "Holyrood" (cf. "Westminster"), is a democratically elected body comprising
129 members who are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament, or MSPs.
Members are elected for four-year terms under the mixed member proportional
representation system. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual
geographical constituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system,
with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing
seven MSPs.
The current Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 and its
first meeting as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999. The parliament has the
power to pass laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its roles is to
hold the Scottish Government to account. The "devolved matters" over which it has
responsibility include education, health, agriculture, and justice. A degree of
domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the UK Parliament
in Westminster.
The public take part in Parliament in a way that is not the case at Westminster
through Cross-Party Groups on policy topics which the interested public join and
attend meetings of alongside Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
The resurgence in Celtic language and identity, as well as 'regional' politics and
development, has contributed to forces pulling against the unity of the state. This
was clearly demonstrated when - although some argue it was influenced by general
public dillusionment with Labour - the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the
largest party in the Scottish Parliament by one seat.
Alex Salmond (leader of SNP) has since made history by becoming the first First
Minister of Scotland from a party other than Labour. The SNP governed as a
minority administration at Holyrood following the 2007 Scottish Parliament
election. Nationalism (support for breaking up the UK) has experienced a dramatic
rise in popularity in recent years, with a pivotal moment coming at the 2011 Scottish
Parliament election where the SNP capitalised on the collapse of the Liberal
Democrat support to improve on their 2007 performance to win the first ever
outright majority at Holyrood (despite the voting system being specifically designed
to prevent majorities), with Labour remaining the largest opposition party.
This election result prompted the leader of the three main opposition parties to
resign. Iain Gray was succeeded as Scottish Labour leader by Johann Lamont,
Scottish Conservative and Unionist leader, Annabel Goldie was replaced by Ruth
Davidson, and Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats was replaced
by Willie Rennie.
A major SNP manifesto pledge was to hold a referendum on Scottish Independence,
which was duly granted by the UK Government and held on 18 September 2014.
When the nationalists came to power in 2011, opinion polls placed support for
independence at around 31%, but in 2014, 45% voted to leave the union. In the
wake of the referendum defeat, membership of the SNP surged to over 100,000,
overtaking the Liberal Democrats as the third largest political party in the UK by
membership, and in the general election of May 2015 the SNP swept the board and
took 56 of the 59 Westminster constituencies in Scotland (far surpassing their
previous best of 11 seats in the late 1970s) and winning more than 50% of the
Scottish vote.
Alex Salmond resigned as First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP
following the country's rejection of independence in September 2014, and was
succeeded in both roles by the deputy First Minister and deputy leader of the SNP,
Nicola Sturgeon. Also in the wake of the referendum, Scottish Labour leader,
Johann Lamont, stood down and Jim Murphy was elected to replace her. Mr
Murphy was the leader of Scottish Labour Party until the general election in 2015 in
which he lost his seat in Westminster, after the defeat he resigned his position and
her deputy MSP Kezia Dugdale became leader of the party and leader of SLP in
Holyrood. At 2017 she unexpectedly resigned and was elected as SLP leader the
English born Richard Leonard.
Welsh Parliament (Senedd)[edit]
Main article: Welsh Parliament

The Senedd - The Welsh Parliament Building

The Welsh Parliament (Senedd) is the devolved legislature of Wales with power to
make legislation and vary taxes. The Parliament comprises 60 members, who are
known as Members of the Senedd, or MSs (Welsh: Aelod y Cynulliad). Members
are elected for four-year terms under an additional members system, where 40 MSs
represent geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, and 20 MSs
from five electoral regions using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.

The Siambr - The debating chamber of the Welsh Parliament

The Welsh Parliament was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which
followed a referendum in 1997. On its creation, most of the powers of the Welsh
Office and Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to it. The Welsh Parliament
had no powers to initiate primary legislation until limited law-making powers were
gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making powers
were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011, making it
possible for it to legislate without having to consult the UK parliament, nor
the Secretary of State for Wales in the 20 areas that are devolved.[17]
Northern Ireland Assembly[edit]
Main article: Northern Ireland Assembly

Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The government of Northern Ireland was established as a result of the 1998 Good
Friday Agreement. This created the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly is
a unicameral body consisting of 108 members elected under the Single Transferable
Vote form of proportional representation. The Assembly is based on the principle of
power-sharing, in order to ensure that both communities in Northern
Ireland, unionist and nationalist, participate in governing the region. It has power to
legislate in a wide range of areas and to elect the Northern Ireland
Executive (cabinet). It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.
The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as
"transferred matters". These matters are not explicitly enumerated in the Northern
Ireland Act 1998 but instead include any competence not explicitly retained by the
Parliament at Westminster. Powers reserved by Westminster are divided into
"excepted matters", which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved matters", which may
be transferred to the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future date.
Health, criminal law and education are "transferred" while royal relations are all
"excepted".
While the Assembly was in suspension, due to issues involving the main parties and
the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its legislative powers were exercised
by the UK government, which effectively had power to legislate by decree. Laws
that would normally be within the competence of the Assembly were passed by the
UK government in the form of Orders-in-Council rather than legislative acts.

There has been a significant decrease in violence over the last twenty years, though
the situation remains tense, with the more hard-line parties such as Sinn Féin and
the Democratic Unionist Party now holding the most parliamentary seats
(see Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland).
Judiciary[edit]
See also: Courts of the United Kingdom and Law of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by
the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty
of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system.
Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland
law and Scots law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the
United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions
of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.  The Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest
court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas
territories, and the British crown dependencies.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland[edit]
Main articles: English law and Northern Ireland law

Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland
law are based on common-law principles. The essence of common-law is that law is
made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge
of legal precedent (stare decisis) to the facts before them. The Courts of England
and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of
the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown
Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest
court in the land for both criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern
Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the hierarchy.
Scotland[edit]
Main article: Scots law

Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles,

applies in Scotland. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and
the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots
law. Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting
criminal trials with a jury, known that as Sheriff solemn Court, or with a Sheriff and
no jury, known as (Sheriff summary Court). The Sheriff courts provide a local court
service with 49 Sheriff courts organised across six Sheriffdoms.

Electoral systems[edit]
Main article: Elections in the United Kingdom

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 message)

Various electoral systems are used in the UK:

 The first-past-the-post system is used for general elections to the House of

Commons, and also for some local government elections in England and Wales.
 The plurality-at-large voting (the bloc vote) is also used for some local
government elections in England and Wales.
 The additional member system is used for elections to the Scottish
Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh Assembly) and London
Assembly. The system is implemented differently in each of the three locations.
 The single transferable vote system is used in Northern Ireland to elect
the Northern Ireland Assembly, local councils, and Members of the European
Parliament, and in Scotland to elect local councils.
 The alternative vote system is used for by-elections in Scottish local councils.
 The D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation was used
for European Parliament elections in England, Scotland and Wales between 1999
and 2019 (the last such election before 'Brexit').
 The supplementary vote is used to elect directly elected mayors in England,
including the mayor of London.
The use of the first-past-the-post to elect members of Parliament is unusual among
European nations. The use of the system means that when three or more candidates
receive a significant share of the vote, MPs are often elected from individual
constituencies with a plurality (receiving more votes than any other candidate), but
not an absolute majority (50 percent plus one vote).
Elections and political parties in the United Kingdom are affected by Duverger's
law, the political science principle which states that plurality voting systems, such as
first-past-the-post, tend to lead to the development of two-party systems. The UK,
like several other states, has sometimes been called a "two-and-a-half" party system,
because parliamentary politics is dominated by the Labour Party and Conservative
Party, while the Liberal Democrats, used to, hold a significant number of seats (but
still substantially less than Labour and the Conservatives), and several small parties
(some of them regional or nationalist) trailing far behind in number of seats,
although this changed in the 2015 general election.
In the last few general elections, voter mandates for Westminster in the 30–40%
ranges have been swung into 60% parliamentary majorities. No single party has won
a majority of the popular vote since the Third National Government of Stanley
Baldwin in 1935. On two occasions since World War II – 1951 and February 1974 –
a party that came in second in the popular vote actually came out with the larger
number of seats.
Electoral reform for parliamentary elections have been proposed many times.
The Jenkins Commission report in October 1998 suggested implementing
the Alternative Vote Top-up (also called alternative vote plus or AV+) in
parliamentary elections. Under this proposal, most MPs would be directly elected
from constituencies by the alternative vote, with a number of additional
members elected from "top-up lists." However, no action was taken by the Labour
government at the time. There are a number of groups in the UK campaigning for
electoral reform, including the Electoral Reform Society, Make Votes Count
Coalition and Fairshare.
The 2010 general election resulted in a hung parliament (no single party being able
to command a majority in the House of Commons). This was only the second
general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the
February 1974 election. The Conservatives gained the most seats (ending 13 years
of Labour government) and the largest percentage of the popular vote, but fell 20
seats short of a majority.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats entered into a new coalition government,
headed by David Cameron. Under the terms of the coalition agreement the
government committed itself to hold a referendum in May 2011 on whether to
change parliamentary elections from first-past-the-post to AV. Electoral reform was
a major priority for the Liberal Democrats, who favour proportional
representation but were able to negotiate only a referendum on AV with the
Conservatives. The coalition partners campaigned on opposite sides, with the
Liberal Democrats supporting AV and the Conservatives opposing it. The
referendum resulted in the Conservative's favour and the first-past-the-post system
was maintained.

Political parties[edit]
This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Is missing
the 2019 election results; article states most recent election was
2017. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly
available information. (February 2020)

Main article: List of political parties in the United Kingdom

2005 general election results by age group: voters for Conservative (blue), Labour
(red), Lib Dem (yellow), other parties (green); and those not voting (grey).
Since the 1920s the two main political parties in the UK, in terms of the number of
seats in the House of Commons, are the Conservative and Unionist Party and
the Labour Party. The Scottish National Party has the second largest party
membership, but a smaller number of MPs as it only fields candidates for
constituencies in Scotland.
The modern day Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of
the Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially
referred to as the Tory Party and members/supporters are referred to as Tories. The
Liberal Democrats or "Lib Dems" were founded in 1988 by an amalgamation of
the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a right-wing Labour
breakaway movement formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had contested
elections together as the SDP–Liberal Alliance for seven years previously. The
modern Liberal Party had been founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of
the Whig movement or party (which began at the same time as the Tory Party and
was its historical rival) as well as the Radical and Peelite tendencies.
The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the
Conservatives) from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined in
popularity, and was supplanted on the left by the Labour Party, which was founded
in 1900 and formed its first minority government in 1924. Since that time, the
Labour and Conservative parties have been dominant, with the Liberals (later
Liberal Democrats) being the third-largest party until 2015, when they lost 49 of
their 57 seats, they now hold 21 seats. They gained 11 seats in the 2017 General
Election and gained another MP with the defection of Chuka Umunna from Change
UK on 13 June 2019. Further defections have also occurred with MPs
including Sarah Wollaston in August 2019, Luciana Berger in September 2019 and
most recently Antoinette Sandbach on 31 October 2019. However they have also
gained an MP through a By-election as well in the form of Jane Dodds on 2 August
2019. Currently the Scottish National Party is the third largest party and have been
since the 2015 General Election when they gained 56 seats. Founded in 1934, the
SNP advocates Scottish independence and has had continuous representation in
Parliament since 1967. The SNP currently leads a minority government in
the Scottish Parliament, and has 35 MPs in the House of Commons after the 2017
general election.
Minor parties also hold seats in parliament:

 Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, has had continuous representation

in Parliament since 1974, and currently hold four of the forty Welsh seats. Plaid
Cymru has had the second highest number of seats in the National Assembly for
Wales, after Welsh Labour for most of the period since devolution in 1999, but
currently has the same number (10) as the Welsh Conservative & Unionist Party.
 In Northern Ireland, all 18 MPs are from parties that only contest elections in
Northern Ireland (except for Sinn Féin, which contests elections in both Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). The unionist Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP), the republican Sinn Féin, the nationalist Social Democratic and
Labour Party (SDLP), and the non-sectarian Alliance Party of Northern
Ireland all gained seats in Parliament at the 2010 general election, the Alliance
Party for the first time. Sinn Féin has a policy of abstentionism and their MPs
refuse to take their seats in Parliament, and have done so since 1918. The DUP,
Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and the SDLP are considered the
four major political parties in Northern Ireland, holding the most seats in
the Northern Ireland Assembly.
 The Green Party of England and Wales holds one seat.
 Change UK has 5 MPs, gained entirely through defections.
 There are 15 Independent MPs, 14 of them were elected for different political
parties but resigned from their respective parties over the course of parliament,
the other, Sylvia Hermon, was re-elected an independent MP for North Down in
2017.
At the most recent general election in 2017, the Conservatives, although increased
their share of the vote; lost their overall majority in the House of Commons after
previously commanding a majority for two years between 2015-17. However, the
Conservatives did manage to gain 12 new seats in Scotland, as well as retaining the
one seat from the previous election. This was the best Conservative Party result in
Scotland since the 1983 general election.
Conservatives (Tories)[edit]
Main article: Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats at the 2015 general
election, returning 330 MPs (plus the Speaker's seat, uncontested, bringing the total
MPs to 331), enough for an overall majority, and went on to form the first
Conservative majority government since the 1992 general election.
The Conservatives won only 318 seats at the 2017 general election, but went on to
form a confidence and supply deal with the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) who
got 10 seats in the House of Commons, allowing the Conservative Party to remain in
government.
The Conservative Party can trace its origin back to 1662, with the Court Party and
the Country Party being formed in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The
Court Party soon became known as the Tories, a name that has stuck despite the
official name being 'Conservative'. The term "Tory" originates from the Exclusion
Bill crisis of 1678-1681 - the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of the
Roman Catholic Duke of York from the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland,
and the Tories were those who opposed it. Both names were originally insults: a
"whiggamore" was a horse drover (See Whiggamore Raid), and a "tory" (Tóraidhe)
was an Irish term for an outlaw, later applied to Irish Confederates and
Irish Royalists, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England,
while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or "land
magnates"), expansion and tolerance of Catholicism.
The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also
heavily involved in the cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more
equal society, and are considered by modern standards to be left-wing.
After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after
1815, the Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence
of Robert Peel, himself an industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834
"Tamworth Manifesto" outlined a new "Conservative" philosophy of reforming ills
while conserving the good.
Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from their colleagues over the issue of
free trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what
would become the Liberal Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook
was retained by the remaining Tories, who adopted his label of Conservative as the
official name of their party.
The Conservatives were in government for eighteen years between 1979–1997,
under the leadership of the first-ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and
former Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major (1990–97). Their landslide defeat at
the 1997 general election saw the Conservative Party lose over half their seats
gained in 1992, and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of them. The
Conservatives lost all their seats in both Scotland and Wales, and was their worst
defeat since 1906.
In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
to select joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this
angered the DUP as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will be elected
in some areas.[
After thirteen years in opposition, the Conservatives returned to power as part of a
coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, going on to form a
majority government in 2015. David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister in July
2016, which resulted in the appointment of the country's second female Prime
Minister, Theresa May. The Conservative Party is the only party in the history of the
United Kingdom to have been governed by a female Prime Minister. In 2019, Boris
Johnson was appointed Prime Minister after Theresa May stepped down during
Brexit negotiations. At one point during 2019 his party had a parliamentary minority
for a short period after he ejected a large number of party members, of which some
were subsequently allowed to return for the 2019 General Election.
Historically, the party has been the mainland party most pre-occupied by British
Unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the Conservative & Unionist Party.
This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph
Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed
Irish home rule. The unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting
sometimes as a scepticism or opposition to devolution, firm support for the
continued existence of the United Kingdom in the face of movements advocating
independence from the UK, and a historic link with the cultural unionism of
Northern Ireland.
Labour[edit]
Main article: Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party won the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons
at the 2017 general election, with 262 seats overall.
The history of the Labour Party goes back to 1900, when a Labour Representation
Committee was established and changed its name to "The Labour Party" in 1906.
After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as the main
reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labour Party on the left-wing
of British politics led to a slow waning of energy from the Liberal Party, which has
consequently assumed third place in national politics. After performing poorly at the
general elections of 1922, 1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party was superseded by the
Labour Party as being the party of the left.
Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 1929–1931, the
Labour Party won a landslide victory after World War II at the 1945 "khaki
election"; winning a majority for the first time ever. Throughout the rest of the
twentieth century, Labour governments alternated with Conservative governments.
The Labour Party suffered the "wilderness years" of 1951–1964 (three consecutive
general election defeats) and 1979–1997 (four consecutive general election defeats).
During this second period, Margaret Thatcher, who became Leader of the
Conservative Party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies,
turning the Conservative Party into an economically liberal party. At the 1979
general election, she defeated James Callaghan's Labour government following
the Winter of Discontent.
For all of the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Conservative governments under
Thatcher and her successor John Major pursued policies of privatisation, anti-trade-
unionism, and, for a time, monetarism, now known collectively as Thatcherism.
The Labour Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader in 1980, and he
responded to dissatisfaction within the Labour Party by pursuing a number of
radical policies developed by its grassroots members. In 1981, several centrist and
right-leaning Labour MPs formed a breakaway group called the Social Democratic
Party (SDP), a move which split Labour and is widely believed to have made the
Labour Party unelectable for a decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal
Party which contested the 1983 and 1987 general elections as a pro-European,
centrist alternative to Labour and the Conservatives. After some initial success, the
SDP did not prosper (partly due to its unfavourable distribution of votes by the
First-Past-The-Post electoral system), and was accused by some of splitting the
Labour vote.
The SDP eventually merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in
1988. Support for the new party has increased since then, and the Liberal Democrats
(often referred to as Lib Dems) gained an increased number of seats in the House of
Commons at both the 2001 and 2005 general elections.
The Labour Party was defeated in a landslide at the 1983 general election, and
Michael Foot was replaced shortly thereafter by Neil Kinnock as party leader.
Kinnock progressively expelled members of Militant, a far left group which
practised entryism, and moderated many of the party's policies. Despite these
changes, as well as electoral gains and also due to Kinnock's negative media image,
Labour was defeated at the 1987 and 1992 general elections, and he was succeeded
by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Smith .
Shadow Home Secretary Tony Blair became Leader of the Labour Party after John
Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in 1994. He continued to move the Labour
Party towards the "centre" by loosening links with the unions and continuing many
of Margaret Thatcher's neoliberal policies. This coupled with the professionalising
of the party machine's approach to the media, helped Labour win a historic landslide
at the 1997 general election, after eighteen consecutive years of Conservative rule.
Some observers say the Labour Party had by then morphed from a democratic
socialist party to a social democratic party, a process which delivered three general
election victories but alienated some of its core base; leading to the formation of
the Socialist Labour Party (UK).[citation needed]
A subset of Labour MPs stand as joint Labour and Co-operative candidates due to a
long-standing electoral alliance between the Labour Party and the Co-op Party - the
political arm of the British co-operative movement. At the 2015 general election, 42
candidates stood using the Labour and Co-operative Party ticket, of which 24 were
elected.
Scottish National Party[edit]
Main article: Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party won the third-largest number of seats in the House of
Commons at the 2015 general election, winning 56 MPs from the 59 constituencies
in Scotland having won 50% of the popular vote. This was an increase of 50 MPs on
the result achieved in 2010.
At the 2017 general election, the SNP won 35 seats, a net loss of 21 seats.
The SNP has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1967.
Following the 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections, the SNP emerged as the largest
party with 47 MSPs and formed a minority government with Alex Salmond as First
Minister. After the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election, the SNP won enough seats
to form a majority government, the first time this had ever happened since
devolution was established in 1999.
Members of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru work together as a single
parliamentary group following a formal pact signed in 1986. This group currently
has 39 MPs.
Liberal Democrats[edit]
Main article: Liberal Democrats (UK)

The Liberal Democrats won the joint-fourth largest number of seats at the 2017
general election, returning 12 MPs.
The Liberal Democrats were founded in 1988 by an amalgamation of the Liberal
Party with the Social Democratic Party, but can trace their origin back to the Whigs
and the Rochdale Radicals who evolved into the Liberal Party. The term 'Liberal
Party' was first used officially in 1868, though it had been in use colloquially for
decades beforehand. The Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then
alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the
late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century.
The Liberal Democrats are a party with policies on constitutional and political
reforms, including changing the voting system for general elections (2011 United
Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum), abolishing the House of Lords and
replacing it with a 300-member elected Senate, introducing fixed five-year
Parliaments, and introducing a National Register of Lobbyists. They also support
what they see as greater fairness and social mobility. In the coalition government,
the party promoted legislation introducing a pupil premium - funding for schools
directed at the poorest students to give them an equal chance in life. They also
supported same-sex marriage and increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000, a
pre-election manifesto commitment.
Northern Ireland parties[edit]
Main article: List of political parties in Northern Ireland

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had 10 MPs elected at the 2017 general

election. Founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley, it has grown to become the larger of the
two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin MPs had 7 MPs
elected at the 2017 election, but Sinn Féin MPS traditionally abstain from the House
of Commons and refuse to take their seats in what they view as a "foreign"
parliament.
Plaid Cymru[edit]
Main article: Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1974 and
had 4 MPs elected at the 2017 general election. Following the 2007 Welsh
Assembly elections, they joined Labour as the junior partner in a coalition
government, but have fallen down to the third-largest party in the Assembly after
the 2011 Assembly elections, and have become an opposition party.
Other parliamentary parties[edit]
The Green Party of England and Wales kept its sole MP, Caroline Lucas, in
the 2017 general election (it previously had an MP in 1992; Cynog Dafis,
Ceredigion, who was elected on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket). It also has
seats in the European Parliament, two seats on the London Assembly and around
250 local councillors.
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) had one MP and 24 seats in the European
Parliament as well as seats in the House of Lords and a number of local councillors.
UKIP also had a MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly. UKIP has become an
emerging alternative party among some voters, gaining the third-largest share of the
vote in the 2015 general election and the largest share of the vote of any party (27%)
in the 2014 European elections. In 2014 UKIP gained its first ever MP following the
defection and re-election of Douglas Carswell in the 2014 Clacton by-election. They
campaign mainly on issues such as reducing immigration and EU withdrawal.
The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement had a
single MP, George Galloway from 2005-2010, and again between 2012-2015.[30]
Change UK - The Independent Group was a political party formed and disbanded in
2019. It had 5 MPs, of whom 4 were elected as Labour MPs, and 1 as Conservative
MPs.
There are usually a small number of Independent politicians in parliament with no
party allegiance. In modern times, this has usually occurred when a sitting member
leaves their party, and some such MPs have been re-elected as independents. The
only independent MP elected at the 2017 General Election is Sylvia Hermon,
previously of the Ulster Unionist Party, though there are currently 11 MPs sitting as
Independents. Since 1950, only two new members have been elected as
independents without having ever stood for a major party:

 Martin Bell represented the Tatton constituency in Cheshire between 1997

and 2001. He was elected following a "sleaze" scandal involving the-then
incumbent Conservative MP, Neil Hamilton. Bell, a BBC journalist, stood as an
anti-corruption independent candidate, and the Labour and Liberal Democrat
parties withdrew their candidates from the election.
 Dr. Richard Taylor MP was elected for the Wyre Forest constituency in 2001
on a platform opposing the closure of Kidderminster hospital. He later
established Health Concern, the party under which he ran in 2005.
Non-Parliamentary political parties[edit]
Other UK political parties exist, but generally threaten, rather than succeed in
returning regular MPs to Parliament.
The Brexit Party was founded in January 2019, with leader Nigel Farage (former
retired UKIP leader). It initially had 14 MEPs, all of whom had been elected as
members of UKIP. In the 2019 European Parliament election in the United
Kingdom, it returned 29 MEPs.
The Scottish Green Party has 6 MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and 19 local
councillors.
The Green Party in Northern Ireland has two MLAs in the Northern Ireland
Assembly, as well as 8 local councillors.
The British National Party (BNP) won two seats in the European Parliament in
the 2009 European elections, before losing both seats in 2014. In May 2018 the
party lost its last elected representative (a local councillor).
The Libertarian Party was founded in 2008 and has contested several local elections
and parliamentary constituencies.
The English Democrats was founded in 2002 and advocates England having its own
parliament. The party's candidate was elected mayor of Doncaster in 2009, before
resigning from the party in February 2013.
Other parties include: the Socialist Labour Party (UK), the Free England Party,
the Communist Party of Britain, the Socialist Party (England and Wales),
the Socialist Workers Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, the Liberal Party, Mebyon
Kernow (a Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, the Yorkshire Party in Yorkshire,
the Communist Left Alliance (in Fife) and the Pirate Party UK.
Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or
district. Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, which was one of
the dominant parties in Bedford Borough Council and led by Bedford's former
Mayor, Frank Branston. The most notable local party is Health Concern, which
controlled a single seat in the UK Parliament from 2001 to 2010.
The Jury Team, launched in March 2009 and described as a "non-party party", is an
umbrella organisation seeking to increase the number of independent members of
both domestic and European members of Parliament in Great Britain.
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party was founded in 1983. The OMRLP are
distinguished by having a deliberately bizarre manifesto, which contains things that
seem to be impossible or too absurd to implement – usually to highlight what they
see as real-life absurdities. It is effectively regarded as a satirical political party.
2015 to 2019[edit]
After winning the largest number of seats and votes in the 2015 general election, the
Conservatives under David Cameron, remained ahead of the Labour Party, led
by Jeremy Corbyn since September 2015. The SNP maintained its position in
Scotland, the party was just short of an overall majority at the Scottish
parliamentary elections in May 2016.
However, a turbulent referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the
European Union, called for by David Cameron, led to his resignation, the
appointment of a new prime minister Theresa May, and divided opinion on Europe
amongst the party.
In addition, the EU referendum campaign plunged the Labour Party into crisis and
resulted in a motion of no confidence in the party leader Jeremy Corbyn being
passed by the party's MPs in a 172-40 vote, which followed a significant number of
resignations from the Shadow Cabinet. This led to a leadership election which began
with Angela Eagle, the former Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who eight days later withdrew
from the leadership race, to support Owen Smith, the former Shadow Secretary of
State for Work and Pensions. This was won by Jeremy Corbyn with an increased
majority.
Following the vote to leave the European Union, Nigel Farage offered his own
resignation as leader, something he had campaigned for since 1992. A leadership
contest also took place in the Green Party, which led to the joint election on 2
September 2016 of Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas as co-leaders, who took
over the role in a job-share arrangement. Lucas, was previously leader until 2010
and is the party's only MP. Strategic cross-party alliances have been initiated,
including a "progressive alliance" and a "Patriotic Alliance", as proposed
by UKIP donor Aaron Banks.
In 2017, the prime minister, Theresa May, called a general election. She hoped to
increase the conservative majority to diffuse party opposition to her deal to leave the
EU. In the election, the conservatives lost seats and the Labour party, under Jeremy
Corbyn, gained 30 seats. This led to a minority conservative government supported
by the DUP.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) rated the United Kingdom as a "full
democracy" in 2017. In the 2018 EIU democracy index, the UK remained 11th out
of the 14 western european nations classed as 'full democracy' with an overall score
of 8.53 out of a maximum of 10.  It received a comparatively low mark in the
'functioning of government' assessment.
In July 2019, Boris Johnson won the leadership of the conservative party following
the resignation of May. He became the prime minister by default.
In August 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested the monarch, Queen
Elizabeth II, to prorogue the UK parliament. Although this measure is common for
incoming governments to allow time to prepare the Queen's speech, the move
caused great controversy as it was announced to last 23 days instead of the usual 4
or 5 days. It would end the current session of the Parliament that had been running
for 2 years and prevent further parliamentary debate. The government stated that it
was nothing to do with Brexit and that there would still be "ample time" for debate
before Brexit happens.[42] Opponents believed that parliament had been suspended to
force through a no-deal Brexit and prevent parliament from being able to thwart the
government's plan. Others argued that it facilitated the Brexit negotiations by
forcing the EU to modify the current proposed deal. The move is unprecented in UK
politics and caused debate in the media, an attempt to stop it in the Scottish Court of
Session, an attempt by ex-prime minister John Major and others to stop it in the
English High Court and in the High Court in Northern Ireland. It was reported by
many media sources that the move takes the UK one more step towards a
full dictatorship from its current status of 'elective dictatorship'. The legality of the
suspension of parliament was tested in courts in England and Scotland. The case
was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. On 24 September, it
ruled unanimously that the prorogation was both justiciable and unlawful. The
prorogation was quashed and deemed "null and of no [legal] effect". Parliament
resumed the next day.
On the return of parliament the government lost its majority when Conservative
MP Phillip Lee crossed the floor of the house to join the Liberal Democrats. This
meant that the combined votes of the Conservative and DUP MPs amounted to one
less than the combined votes of opposition parties. The government of Boris
Johnson then lost a vote, 301 to 328, giving control of the agenda of the house to the
MPs, removing the control the government had over the introduction of new
laws. The 21 Conservative MPs who voted against their own government had
the whip removed by number 10, removing them from the party. This included long-
standing members of the party. Johnson called for a general election and following a
few attempts succeeded in getting a vote approving an election through parliament.
Current political landscape[edit]
In the December 2019 general election, the Conservative Party, led by Boris
Johnson, won a large overall majority. Jeremy Corbyn resigned as leader of
the Labour Party. Jo Swinson resigned as Lib Dem leader after losing her own seat.[
On 20 December 2019, the Brexit withdrawal agreement was passed. The UK left
the EU on 31 January 2020 at 11 p.m. GMT and entered a transition period, set to
finish on 31 December 2020.
In January 2020, the Labour Party began the process of electing a new leader. On 4
April 2020, Keir Starmer was elected leader of the Labour Party with 56.2% of the
vote in the first round.
Membership[edit]
All political parties have membership schemes that allow members of the public to
actively influence the policy and direction of the party to varying degrees, though
particularly at a local level. Membership of British political parties is around 1% of
the British electorate, which is lower than in all European countries except for
Poland and Latvia. Overall membership to a political party has been in decline since
the 1950s. In 1951, the Conservative Party had 2.2 million members, and a year
later in 1952 the Labour Party reached their peak of 1 million members (of an
electorate of around 34 million).
The table below details the membership numbers of political parties that have more
than 5,000 members.

Party Members Date

Conservative 124,800 March 2018

Green Party of England and

39,400 August 2018
Wales

Labour 540,180 April 2018

Liberal Democrats 99,200 August 2018

Plaid Cymru 10,500+ 12 October 2018

Scottish Green Party 8,120[ 31 December 2016

Scottish National Party 125,482 August 2018

UK Independence Party 23,600 August 2018

No data could be collected for the four parties of Northern Ireland: the DUP, UUP,
SDLP, and Sinn Féin. However, in January 1997, it was estimated that the UUP had
10-12,000 members, and the DUP had 5,000 members.
The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with
different functions and responsibilities.
England has a mix of two-tier and single-tier councils in different parts of the
country. In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared
between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is
headed by an elected mayor.
Unitary Authorities are used throughout Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
European Union[edit]
Further information: United Kingdom–European Union relations, European
Movement UK, Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom, Lists of Members of the
European Parliament for the United Kingdom, and Brexit

The United Kingdom first joined the then European Communities in January 1973
by the then Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, and remained a member of
the European Union (EU) that it evolved into; UK citizens, and other EU citizens
resident in the UK, elect 73 members to represent them in the European
Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg.
The UK's membership in the Union has been a major topic of debate over the years
and has been objected to over questions of sovereignty, and in recent years there
have been divisions in both major parties over whether the UK should form greater
ties within the EU, or reduce the EU's supranational powers. Opponents of greater
European integration are known as "Eurosceptics", while supporters are known as
"Europhiles". Division over Europe is prevalent in both major parties, although the
Conservative Party is seen as most divided over the issue, both whilst in
Government up to 1997 and after 2010, and between those dates as the opposition.
However, the Labour Party is also divided, with conflicting views over UK adoption
of the euro whilst in Government (1997–2010).[citation needed]
British nationalists have long campaigned against European integration. The strong
showing of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) since the 2004
European Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU.
In March 2008, Parliament decided to not hold a referendum on the ratification of
the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2007. This was despite the Labour
government promising in 2004 to hold a referendum on the previously
proposed Constitution for Europe.[citation needed]
On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in
a referendum. After the referendum, it was debated as to how and when the UK
should leave the EU. On 11 July 2016, the Cabinet Office Minister, John Penrose
failed to deliver a final answer on whether it would be at the disposal of the Prime
Minister and one of the Secretaries of State, through the Royal prerogative, or
of Parliament, through primary legislation.
In October 2016 the Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that
Article 50 would be invoked by "the first quarter of 2017".On 24 January 2017
the Supreme Court ruled in the Miller case by a majority that the process could not
be initiated without an authorising act of parliament, but unanimously ruled against
the Scottish government's claim in respect of devolution that they had a direct say in
the decision to trigger Article 50. Consequently, the European Union (Notification
of Withdrawal) Act 2017 empowering the prime minister to invoke Article 50 was
passed and enacted by royal assent in March 2017.
Invocation of Article 50 by the United Kingdom government occurred on 29 March
2017, when Sir Tim Barrow, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom
to the European Union, formally delivered by hand a letter signed by Prime
Minister Theresa May to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council in
Brussels. The letter also contained the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from
the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). This means that the
UK will cease to be a member of the EU on 30 March 2019, unless an extension to
negotiations is agreed upon by the UK and EU. The leaving date was subsequently
revised by agreement with the EU to be 31 October 2019. This led to a change of
prime minister who promised to leave the EU on this date either with a revised deal
or with no-deal.[citation needed]
The UK withdrew from the EU at 23.00 GMT on 31 January 2020, beginning a
transition period that is set to end on 31 December 2020. During the 11-month
transition period, the UK and EU will negotiate their future relationship. The UK
remains subject to European Union law and remains part of EU Customs
Union and European Single Market during the transition period, but is no longer
represented in the EU's political bodies or institutions.

International organisation participation[edit]

 African Development Bank

 Asian Development Bank
 Australia Group
 Bank for International Settlements
 Commonwealth of Nations
 Caribbean Development Bank (non-regional)
 Council of Europe
 CERN
 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
 European Investment Bank
 European Space Agency
 Food and Agriculture Organization
 G5, G6, G7, G8
 G10
 Inmarsat
 Inter-American Development Bank
 International Atomic Energy Agency
 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
 International Civil Aviation Organization
 International Chamber of Commerce
 International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
 International Criminal Court
 International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol
 International Development Association
 International Energy Agency
 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
 International Finance Corporation
 International Fund for Agricultural Development
 International Hydrographic Organization
 International Labour Organization
 International Maritime Organization
 International Monetary Fund
 International Olympic Committee (IOC)
 International Organization for Migration (IOM) (observer)
 International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
 International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
 International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat)
 International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
 International Whaling Commission
 MONUC
 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) (guest)
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
 Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
 Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
 Organization of American States (OAS) (observer)
 The Pacific Community (SPC)
 Permanent Court of Arbitration
 UNESCO
 United Nations
 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (associate)
 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
 United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
 United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
 United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
 United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM)
 United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH)
 United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
 United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG)
 United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)
 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA)
 United Nations Security Council (permanent member)
 Universal Postal Union (UPU)
 UNTAET
 Western European Union
 World Confederation of Labour
 World Customs Organization
 World Health Organization
 World Intellectual Property Organization
 World Meteorological Organization
 World Trade Organization
 Zangger Committee

5. Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born

21 April 1926) is the Queen of the United
Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.
Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, the first
child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and she was
educated privately at home. Her father ascended the
throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward
VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir
presumptive. She began to undertake public
duties during the Second World War, serving in
the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947, she
married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of
Greece and Denmark, with whom she has four
children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of
York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth became head of the
Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries:
the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan
and Ceylon. She has reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political
changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation, and
the decolonisation of Africa. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her
realms varied as territories gained independence, and as realms, including South
Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics. Her many
historic visits and meetings include a state visit to the Republic of Ireland and visits
to or from five popes. Significant events have included her coronation in 1953 and
the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees in 1977, 2002, and
2012, respectively. In 2017, she became the first British monarch to reach
a Sapphire Jubilee. She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch.
She is the longest-serving female head of state in world history, and the
world's oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch,
and oldest and longest-serving current head of state.
Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of
the royal family, in particular after the breakdown of her children's marriages,
her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-
law Diana, Princess of Wales. However, in the United Kingdom, support for the
monarchy has been and remains consistently high, as does her personal popularity.

On the cover of Time, April 1929

During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in
the line of succession to the British throne, behind her
uncle Edward and her father. Although her birth generated
public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as
Edward was still young and likely to marry and have children
of his own, who would precede Elizabeth in the line of
succession. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle
succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second in line to the
throne, after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated,
after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a
constitutional crisis. 
Consequently, Elizabeth's father became king, and she became heir
presumptive. If her parents had had a later son, he would have been heir
apparent and above her in the line of succession, which was determined by male-
preference primogeniture.
Elizabeth received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry
Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from a succession of
native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace
Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with girls her own
age. Later, she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.
In 1939, Elizabeth's parents toured Canada and the United States. As in 1927,
when they had toured Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth remained in Britain,
since her father thought her too young to undertake public tours. She "looked
tearful" as her parents departed. They corresponded regularly, and she and her
parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call on 18 May.

In Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945

Second World War

In September 1939, Britain entered
the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested
that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret should
be evacuated to Canada to avoid the
frequent aerial bombing. This was rejected by
their mother, who declared, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave
without the King. And the King will never leave." The princesses stayed
at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, until Christmas 1939, when they moved
to Sandringham House, Norfolk. From February to May 1940, they lived at Royal
Lodge, Windsor, until moving to Windsor Castle, where they lived for most of the
next five years. At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid
of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In
1940, the 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during
the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from
the cities. She stated: "We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors,
soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and
sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well."
In 1943, Elizabeth undertook her first solo public appearance on a visit to
the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed colonel the previous
year. As she approached her 18th birthday, parliament changed the law so she could
act as one of five Counsellors of State in the event of her father's incapacity or
absence abroad, such as his visit to Italy in July 1944. In February 1945, she was
appointed as an honorary second subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service with
the service number of 230873. She trained as a driver and mechanic and was given
the rank of honorary junior commander (female equivalent of captain at the time)
five months later.

Elizabeth (far left) on the balcony

of B uckingham Palace with her family
and  Winston Churchill on 8 May 1945, Victory in
Europe Day

At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and
Margaret mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the streets of
London. Elizabeth later said in a rare interview, "We asked my parents if we could
go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised ... I
remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of
us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief."[36]
During the war, plans were drawn up to quell Welsh nationalism by affiliating
Elizabeth more closely with Wales. Proposals, such as appointing her Constable
of Caernarfon Castle or a patron of Urdd Gobaith Cymru (the Welsh League of
Youth), were abandoned for several reasons, including fear of associating Elizabeth
with conscientious objectors in the Urdd at a time when Britain was at war. Welsh
politicians suggested she be made Princess of Wales on her 18th birthday. Home
Secretary, Herbert Morrison supported the idea, but the King rejected it because he
felt such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince of Wales and the Prince of
Wales had always been the heir apparent. In 1946, she was inducted into the
Welsh Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Princess Elizabeth went in 1947 on her first overseas tour, accompanying her
parents through southern Africa. During the tour, in a broadcast to the British
Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she made the following pledge: "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.

Marriage
Elizabeth met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in
1934 and 1937. They are second cousins once removed through King Christian IX
of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. After another meeting at
the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth—though only 13
years old—said she fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters. She
was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947.

Elizabeth and Philip, 1950

The engagement was not without controversy; Philip had no financial
standing, was foreign-born (though a British subject who had served in the Royal
Navy throughout the Second World War), and had sisters who had married German
noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote, "Some of the King's advisors
did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom.
Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign
origin." Later biographies reported Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the
union initially, and teased Philip as "The Hun". In later life, however, the Queen
Mother told biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially
converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant
Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. Just before
the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style His Royal
Highness.
Elizabeth and Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster
Abbey. They received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Because Britain
had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth
required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown, which was designed
by Norman Hartnell. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for Philip's German
relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. The
Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, was not invited either.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948.
One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use
the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not
have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince. [55] A second
child, Princess Anne, was born in 1950.
Following their wedding, the couple leased Windlesham Moor, near Windsor
Castle, until July 1949, when they took up residence at Clarence House in London.
At various times between 1949 and 1951, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in
the British Crown Colony of Malta as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and
Elizabeth lived intermittently in Malta for several months at a time in the hamlet
of Gwardamanġa, at Villa Guardamangia, the rented home of Philip's uncle, Lord
Mountbatten. The children remained in Britain.

Accession and coronation

During 1951, George VI's health
declined, and Elizabeth frequently stood in for
him at public events. When she toured Canada
and visited President Harry S. Truman in
Washington, D.C., in October 1951, her private
secretary, Martin Charteris, carried a draft
accession declaration in case the King died
while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth
and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and
New Zealand by way of Kenya. On 6 February
1952, they had just returned to their Kenyan
home, Sagana Lodge, after a night spent
at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the
death of the King and consequently Elizabeth's
immediate accession to the throne. Philip broke
the news to the new queen. Martin Charteris
asked her to choose a regnal name; she chose to
remain Elizabeth, "of course". She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms and
the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the Duke of
Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.
With Elizabeth's accession, it seemed probable the royal house would bear the
Duke of Edinburgh's name, in line with the custom of a wife taking her husband's
surname on marriage. The Duke's uncle, Lord Mountbatten, advocated the
name House of Mountbatten. Philip suggested House of Edinburgh, after his ducal
title. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Elizabeth's
grandmother, Queen Mary, favoured the retention of the House of Windsor, and so
on 9 April 1952 Elizabeth issued a declaration that Windsor would continue to be
the name of the royal house. The Duke complained, "I am the only man in the
country not allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, after the death
of Queen Mary in 1953 and the resignation of Churchill in 1955, the
surname Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line
descendants who do not carry royal titles.
Amid preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret told her sister she
wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorcé‚ 16 years Margaret's senior, with two
sons from his previous marriage. The Queen asked them to wait for a year; in the
words of Charteris, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but
I think she thought—she hoped—given time, the affair would peter out." Senior
politicians were against the match and the Church of England did not permit
remarriage after divorce. If Margaret had contracted a civil marriage, she would
have been expected to renounce her right of succession. Eventually, she decided to
abandon her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones,
who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They divorced in 1978; she
did not remarry.
Despite the death of Queen Mary on 24 March, the coronation on 2 June
1953 went ahead as planned, as Mary had asked before she died. The ceremony
in Westminster Abbey, with the exception of the anointing and communion, was
televised for the first time. Elizabeth's coronation gown was embroidered on her
instructions with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries: English Tudor
rose; Scots thistle; Welsh leek; Irish shamrock; Australian wattle; Canadian maple
leaf; New Zealand silver fern; South African protea; lotus flowers for India and
Ceylon; and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
Continuing evolution of the Commonwealth
Elizabeth's realms (light red and pink) and their territories
and protectorates (dark red) at the beginning of her reign in 1952.
From Elizabeth's birth onwards, the British Empire continued its
transformation into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of her accession in
1952, her role as head of multiple independent states was already established. In
1953, the Queen and her husband embarked on a seven-month round-the-world tour,
visiting 13 countries and covering more than 40,000 miles by land, sea and air. She
became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those
nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of
Australia were estimated to have seen her. Throughout her reign, the Queen has
made hundreds of state visits to other countries and tours of the Commonwealth; she
is the most widely travelled head of state.
In 1956, the British and French prime ministers, Sir Anthony Eden and Guy
Mollet, discussed the possibility of France joining the Commonwealth. The proposal
was never accepted and the following year France signed the Treaty of Rome, which
established the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European
Union. In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately
unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten claimed the
Queen was opposed to the invasion, though Eden denied it. Eden resigned two
months later.
The absence of a formal mechanism within the Conservative Party for
choosing a leader meant that, following Eden's resignation, it fell to the Queen to
decide whom to commission to form a government. Eden recommended she
consult Lord Salisbury, the Lord President of the Council. Lord Salisbury and Lord
Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, consulted the British Cabinet, Churchill, and the
Chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, resulting in the Queen appointing
their recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led, in 1957, to the first
major personal criticism of the Queen. In a magazine, which he owned and
edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". Altrincham was
denounced by public figures and slapped by a member of the public appalled by his
comments. Six years later, in 1963, Macmillan resigned and advised the Queen to
appoint the Earl of Home as prime minister, advice she followed. The Queen again
came under criticism for appointing the prime minister on the advice of a small
number of ministers or a single minister. In 1965 the Conservatives adopted a
formal mechanism for electing a leader, thus relieving her of involvement.
In 1957 she made a state visit to the United States, where she addressed
the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Commonwealth. On the same
tour, she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first monarch of
Canada to open a parliamentary session. Two years later, solely in her capacity as
Queen of Canada, she revisited the United States and toured Canada. In 1961 she
toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Iran. On a visit to Ghana the same year,
she dismissed fears for her safety, even though her host, President Kwame
Nkrumah, who had replaced her as head of state, was a target for assassins. Harold
Macmillan wrote, "The Queen has been absolutely determined all through ... She is
impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as ... a film star ... She has indeed
'the heart and stomach of a man' ... She loves her duty and means to be a
Queen." Before her tour through parts of Quebec in 1964, the press reported
extremists within the Quebec separatist movement were plotting Elizabeth's
assassination. No attempt was made, but a riot did break out while she was in
Montreal; the Queen's "calmness and courage in the face of the violence" was noted.
Elizabeth's pregnancies with Princes Andrew and Edward, in 1959 and 1963,
mark the only times she has not performed the State Opening of the British
parliament during her reign. In addition to performing traditional ceremonies, she
also instituted new practices. Her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members
of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970.

Acceleration of decolonisation
The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and
the Caribbean. Over 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a
planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian Prime
Minister, Ian Smith, in opposition to moves towards majority rule, unilaterally
declared independence while expressing "loyalty and devotion" to Elizabeth.
Although the Queen formally dismissed him, and the international community
applied sanctions against Rhodesia, his regime survived for over a decade. As
Britain's ties to its former empire weakened, the British government sought entry to
the European Community, a goal it achieved in 1973.
In February 1974, the British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, advised the
Queen to call a general election in the middle of her tour of the Austronesian Pacific
Rim, requiring her to fly back to Britain. The election resulted in a hung parliament;
Heath's Conservatives were not the largest party, but could stay in office if they
formed a coalition with the Liberals. Heath only resigned when discussions on
forming a coalition foundered, after which the Queen asked the Leader of the
Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.
A year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the
Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, was dismissed from his post
by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, after the Opposition-controlled Senate rejected
Whitlam's budget proposals. As Whitlam had a majority in the House of
Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to the Queen to reverse Kerr's
decision. She declined, saying she would not interfere in decisions reserved by
the Constitution of Australia for the Governor-General. The crisis fuelled Australian
republicanism.
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and
events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with her
associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed the
Queen's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess
Margaret's separation from her husband. In 1978, the Queen endured a state visit to
the United Kingdom by Romania's communist leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his
wife, Elena, though privately she thought they had "blood on their hands". The
following year brought two blows: one was the unmasking of Anthony Blunt,
former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy; the other was the
assassination of her relative and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish
Republican Army.
According to Paul Martin, Sr., by the end of the 1970s the Queen was worried
the Crown "had little meaning for" Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.
[110]
 Tony Benn said the Queen found Trudeau "rather disappointing". Trudeau's
supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down
banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind the Queen's back in 1977,
and the removal of various Canadian royal symbols during his term of office. In
1980, Canadian politicians sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian
constitution found the Queen "better informed ... than any of the British politicians
or bureaucrats". She was particularly interested after the failure of Bill C-60, which
would have affected her role as head of state. Patriation removed the role of
the British parliament from the Canadian constitution, but the monarchy was
retained. Trudeau said in his memoirs that the Queen favoured his attempt to reform
the constitution and that he was impressed by "the grace she displayed in public"
and "the wisdom she showed in private".

1980s
During the 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, six weeks before
the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, six shots were fired at the
Queen from close range as she rode down The Mall, London, on her
horse, Burmese. Police later discovered the shots were blanks. The 17-year-old
assailant, Marcus Sarjeant, was sentenced to five years in prison and released after
three. The Queen's composure and skill in controlling her mount were widely
praised.
 Months later, in October, the Queen was the subject of another attack while
on a visit to Dunedin, New Zealand. New Zealand Security Intelligence
Service documents, declassified in 2018, revealed that 17-year-old Christopher John
Lewis fired a shot with a .22 rifle from the fifth floor of a building overlooking the
parade, but missed. Lewis was arrested, but never charged with attempted murder
or treason, and sentenced to three years in jail for unlawful possession and discharge
of a firearm. Two years into his sentence, he attempted to escape a psychiatric
hospital in order to assassinate Charles, who was visiting the country
with Diana and their son Prince William.
From April to September 1982, the Queen was anxious but proud of her son,
Prince Andrew, who was serving with British forces during the Falklands War. On 9
July, she awoke in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael
Fagan, in the room with her. In a serious lapse of security, assistance only arrived
after two calls to the Palace police switchboard. After hosting US President Ronald
Reagan at Windsor Castle in 1982 and visiting his California ranch in 1983, the
Queen was angered when his administration ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of
her Caribbean realms, without informing her.
Intense media interest in the opinions and private lives of the royal family
during the 1980s led to a series of sensational stories in the press, not all of which
were entirely true. As Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of The Sun, told his staff: "Give me
a Sunday for Monday splash on the Royals. Don't worry if it's not true—so long as
there's not too much of a fuss about it afterwards." Newspaper editor Donald
Trelford wrote in The Observer of 21 September 1986: "The royal soap opera has
now reached such a pitch of public interest that the boundary between fact and
fiction has been lost sight of ... it is not just that some papers don't check their facts
or accept denials: they don't care if the stories are true or not." It was reported, most
notably in The Sunday Times of 20 July 1986, that the Queen was worried
that Margaret Thatcher's economic policies fostered social divisions and was
alarmed by high unemployment, a series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike,
and Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South
Africa. The sources of the rumours included royal aide Michael
Shea and Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal, but Shea claimed
his remarks were taken out of context and embellished by speculation. Thatcher
reputedly said the Queen would vote for the Social Democratic Party—Thatcher's
political opponents. Thatcher's biographer, John Campbell, claimed "the report was
a piece of journalistic mischief-making". Belying reports of acrimony between
them, Thatcher later conveyed her personal admiration for the Queen, and the
Queen gave two honours in her personal gift—membership in the Order of
Merit and the Order of the Garter—to Thatcher after her replacement as prime
minister by John Major. Brian Mulroney, Canadian prime minister between 1984
and 1993, said Elizabeth was a "behind the scenes force" in ending apartheid.
By the end of the 1980s, the Queen had become the target of satire. The
involvement of younger members of the royal family in the charity game show It's a
Royal Knockout in 1987 was ridiculed. In Canada, Elizabeth publicly supported
politically divisive constitutional amendments, prompting criticism from opponents
of the proposed changes, including Pierre Trudeau. The same year, the elected Fijian
government was deposed in a military coup. As monarch of Fiji, Elizabeth
supported the attempts of Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau to assert
executive power and negotiate a settlement. Coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka deposed
Ganilau and declared Fiji a republic.

1990s
In 1991, in the wake of coalition victory in the Gulf War, the Queen became
the first British monarch to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.
In a speech on 24 November 1992, to mark the 40th anniversary of her
accession, Elizabeth called 1992 her annus horribilis (horrible year). Republican
feeling in Britain had risen because of press estimates of the Queen's private wealth
—which were contradicted by the Palace—and reports of affairs and strained
marriages among her extended family. In March, her second son, Prince Andrew,
and his wife, Sarah, separated; in April, her daughter, Princess Anne, divorced
Captain Mark Phillips; during a state visit to Germany in October, angry
demonstrators in Dresden threw eggs at her; and, in November, a large fire broke
out at Windsor Castle, one of her official residences. The monarchy came under
increased criticism and public scrutiny. In an unusually personal speech, the Queen
said that any institution must expect criticism, but suggested it be done with "a
touch of humour, gentleness and understanding". Two days later, Prime Minister
John Major announced reforms to the royal finances planned since the previous
year, including the Queen paying income tax from 1993 onwards, and a reduction in
the civil list. In December, Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, formally
separated. The year ended with a lawsuit, as the Queen sued The Sun newspaper for
breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two
days before it was broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees and
donated £200,000 to charity.
In the years to follow, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's
marriage continued. Even though support for republicanism in Britain seemed
higher than at any time in living memory, republicanism was still a minority
viewpoint, and the Queen herself had high approval ratings. Criticism was focused
on the institution of the monarchy itself and the Queen's wider family rather than her
own behaviour and actions. In consultation with her husband and the Prime
Minister, John Major, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and
her private secretary, Robert Fellowes, she wrote to Charles and Diana at the end of
December 1995, saying a divorce was desirable.
In August 1997, a year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in
Paris. The Queen was on holiday with her extended family at Balmoral. Diana's two
sons by Charles—Princes William and Harry—wanted to attend church and so the
Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took them that morning. Afterwards, for five
days the Queen and the Duke shielded their grandsons from the intense press
interest by keeping them at Balmoral where they could grieve in private, but the
royal family's seclusion and the failure to fly a flag at half-mast over Buckingham
Palace caused public dismay. Pressured by the hostile reaction, the Queen agreed to
return to London and do a live television broadcast on 5 September, the day
before Diana's funeral. In the broadcast, she expressed admiration for Diana and her
feelings "as a grandmother" for the two princes. As a result, much of the public
hostility evaporated.
In November 1997, the Queen and her husband held a reception
at Banqueting House to mark their golden wedding anniversary. She made a speech
and praised Philip for his role as a consort, referring to him as "my strength and
stay".
In 2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee. Her sister and mother died in
February and March respectively, and the media speculated whether the Jubilee
would be a success or a failure. She again undertook an extensive tour of her realms,
which began in Jamaica in February, where she called the farewell banquet
"memorable" after a power cut plunged the King's House, the official residence of
the governor-general, into darkness. As in 1977, there were street parties and
commemorative events, and monuments were named to honour the occasion. A
million people attended each day of the three-day main Jubilee celebration in
London, and the enthusiasm shown by the public for the Queen was greater than
many journalists had expected.
Though generally healthy throughout her life, in 2003 the Queen had keyhole
surgery on both knees. In October 2006, she missed the opening of the
new Emirates Stadium because of a strained back muscle that had been troubling her
since the summer.
In May 2007, The Daily Telegraph, citing unnamed sources, reported the
Queen was "exasperated and frustrated" by the policies of the British prime
minister, Tony Blair, that she was concerned the British Armed Forces were
overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that she had raised concerns over rural
and countryside issues with Blair. She was, however, said to admire Blair's efforts
to achieve peace in Northern Ireland. She became the first British monarch to
celebrate a diamond wedding anniversary in November 2007. On 20 March 2008, at
the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the Queen attended the
first Maundy service held outside England and Wales.

Diamond Jubilee and longevity

Elizabeth addressed the UN General Assembly for a second time in 2010,
again in her capacity as Queen of all Commonwealth realms and Head of the
Commonwealth. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, introduced her as "an
anchor for our age". During her visit to New York, which followed a tour of
Canada, she officially opened a memorial garden for British victims of
the September 11 attacks. The Queen's 11-day visit to Australia in October 2011
was her 16th visit to the country since 1954. By invitation of the Irish
President, Mary McAleese, she made the first state visit to the Republic of
Ireland by a British monarch in May 2011.
The Queen's 2012 Diamond Jubilee marked 60 years on the throne, and
celebrations were held throughout her realms, the wider Commonwealth, and
beyond. In a message released on Accession Day, Elizabeth wrote:
In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will
all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family,
friendship and good neighbourliness ... I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a
time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to
look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart.
She and her husband undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom,
while her children and grandchildren embarked on royal tours of other
Commonwealth states on her behalf. On 4 June, Jubilee beacons were lit around the
world. In November, the Queen and her husband celebrated their blue sapphire
wedding anniversary (65th). On 18 December, she became the first British
sovereign to attend a peacetime Cabinet meeting since George III in 1781.
The Queen, who opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, also
opened the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, making her the
first head of state to open two Olympic Games in two countries. For the London
Olympics, she played herself in a short film as part of the opening ceremony,
alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond. On 4 April 2013, she received an
honorary BAFTA for her patronage of the film industry and was called "the most
memorable Bond girl yet" at the award ceremony. On 3 March 2013, Elizabeth was
admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital as a precaution after developing symptoms
of gastroenteritis. She returned to Buckingham Palace the following day. A week
later, she signed the new Charter of the Commonwealth. Because of her age and the
need for her to limit travelling, in 2013 she chose not to attend the
biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for the first time in 40
years. She was represented at the summit in Sri Lanka by Prince Charles. She
had cataract surgery in May 2018. In March 2019, she opted to give up driving on
public roads, largely as a consequence of a car crash involving her husband two
months beforehand.
The Queen surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, to
become the longest-lived British monarch on 21 December 2007, and the longest-
reigning British monarch and longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of
state in the world on 9 September 2015. She is also the "longest-reigning sovereign
in Canada's modern era" (Louis XIV of France reigned over the colony of
Canada for longer than Elizabeth). She became the oldest current monarch
after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died on 23 January 2015. She later became the
longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of
state following the death of King Bhumibol of Thailand on 13 October 2016, and
the oldest current head of state on the resignation of Robert Mugabe on 21
November 2017. On 6 February 2017, she became the first British monarch to
commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee, and on 20 November, she was the first British
monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. Prince Philip had retired
from his official duties as the Queen's consort in August. On 23 April 2019, she
became the oldest living monarch following the death of Jean, Grand Duke of
Luxembourg.
The Queen does not intend to abdicate, though Prince Charles is expected to
take on more of her duties as Elizabeth, who celebrated her 94th birthday in 2020,
carries out fewer public engagements. On 20 April 2018, the government leaders of
the Commonwealth of Nations announced that she will be succeeded by Charles as
head of the Commonwealth. The Queen stated it was her "sincere wish" that Charles
would follow her in the role. Plans for her death and funeral have been prepared by
British government and media organisations since the 1960s.
 Public perception and character
Since Elizabeth rarely gives interviews, little is known of her personal
feelings. As a constitutional monarch, she has not expressed her own political
opinions in a public forum. She does have a deep sense of religious and civic duty,
and takes her coronation oath seriously. Aside from her official religious
role as Supreme Governor of the established Church of England, she is a member of
that church and also of the national Church of Scotland. She has demonstrated
support for inter-faith relations and has met with leaders of other churches and
religions, including five popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI,
and Francis. A personal note about her faith often features in her annual Christmas
Message broadcast to the Commonwealth. In 2000, she said:
To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the
teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a
framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great
comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example.
She is patron of over 600 organisations and charities. Her main leisure
interests include equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh
Corgis. Her lifelong love of corgis began in 1933 with Dookie, the first corgi owned
by her family. Scenes of a relaxed, informal home life have occasionally been
witnessed; she and her family, from time to time, prepare a meal together and do the
washing up afterwards.
In the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was
depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen". After the trauma of the Second World
War, it was a time of hope, a period of progress and achievement heralding a "new
Elizabethan age". Lord Altrincham's accusation in 1957 that her speeches sounded
like those of a "priggish schoolgirl" was an extremely rare criticism. In the late
1960s, attempts to portray a more modern image of the monarchy were made in the
television documentary Royal Family and by televising Prince Charles's investiture
as Prince of Wales. In public, she took to wearing mostly solid-colour overcoats and
decorative hats, which allow her to be seen easily in a crowd.
At her Silver Jubilee in 1977, the crowds and celebrations were genuinely
enthusiastic, but in the 1980s, public criticism of the royal family increased, as the
personal and working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny. Her
popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s. Under pressure from public opinion, she
began to pay income tax for the first time, and Buckingham Palace was opened to
the public. Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak on the death of the former
Princess of Wales, Diana, although Elizabeth's personal popularity—as well as
general support for the monarchy—rebounded after her live television broadcast to
the world five days after Diana's death.
In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian
monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of
state. Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007 revealed strong support for Elizabeth, and in
2012, her Diamond Jubilee year, approval ratings hit 90 percent. Referendums
in Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 both rejected
proposals to become republics.
 Elizabeth has been portrayed in a variety of media by many notable artists,
including painters Pietro Annigoni, Peter Blake, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, Terence
Cuneo, Lucian Freud, Rolf Harris, Damien Hirst, Juliet Pannett, and Tai-Shan
Schierenberg. Notable photographers of Elizabeth have included Cecil
Beaton, Yousuf Karsh, Annie Leibovitz, Lord Lichfield, Terry O'Neill, John
Swannell, and Dorothy Wilding. The first official portrait of Elizabeth was taken
by Marcus Adams in 1926.

Finances
Elizabeth's personal fortune has been the subject of speculation for many
years. In 1971, Jock Colville, her former private secretary and a director of her
bank, Coutts, estimated her wealth at £2 million (equivalent to about £28 million in
2019). In 1993, Buckingham Palace called estimates of £100 million "grossly
overstated". In 2002, she inherited an estate worth an estimated £70 million from
her mother. The Sunday Times Rich List 2017 estimated her personal wealth at
£360 million, making her the 329th richest person in the UK.
The Royal Collection, which includes thousands of historic works of art and
the British Crown Jewels, is not owned by the Queen personally but is held in
trust, as are her official residences, such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor
Castle, and the Duchy of Lancaster, a property portfolio valued at £472 million in
2015. Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are personally owned by the
Queen. The British Crown Estate—with holdings of £12 billion in 2016—is held in
trust and cannot be sold or owned by her in a personal capacity.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Elizabeth has held many titles and honorary military positions throughout
the Commonwealth, is Sovereign of many orders in her own countries, and has
received honours and awards from around the world. In each of her realms she has a
distinct title that follows a similar formula: Queen of Jamaica and her other realms
and territories in Jamaica, Queen of Australia and her other realms and
territories in Australia, etc. In the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which
are Crown dependencies rather than separate realms, she is known as Duke of
Normandy and Lord of Mann, respectively. Additional styles include Defender of
the Faith and Duke of Lancaster. When in conversation with the Queen, the practice
is to initially address her as Your Majesty and thereafter as Ma'am.