- wording
- BBC News World
2 hours
image source, Getty Images
Carlos III with his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the throne immediately passed to her heir, now King Charles III.
The UK is a parliamentary monarchy with strong institutions that cannot do their jobs without each other.
The King is the head of state of the United Kingdom. However, the monarch’s powers are symbolic and ceremonial. The British kings remain politically neutral.
As head of state, King Carlos III will receive daily dispatches from the government in a red leather casewith previous reports of important meetings or documents that require your signature.
The prime minister will normally meet the king every Wednesday at Buckingham Palace in central London to keep him informed on government matters.
These meetings are completely private and there is no official record of what is said in them.
The king also has a number of parliamentary functions.
One of the main ones is to appoint the government: following a general election in the United Kingdom, the monarch Summons the leader of the winning party to Buckingham Palace, where he formally invites him to form a government.
The king is also in charge of formally dissolving the government before a general election.
In addition, the king marks the start of the parliamentary year with an opening ceremony in which exposes the government’s plans with a speech delivered from the throne in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the British Parliament.
image source, Getty Images
King Charles III.
Another function of the king is to formally approve the laws that are voted in the Parliament so that they are valid. The last time a monarch refused to pass a law was in 1708.
The king must also to receive to heads of Eherd from other countries and meet with foreign ambassadors and high commissioners in the UK.
Head from Commonwealth
Similarly, every November, he usually directs Remembrance Day, also known as Armistice Day or Veterans Day, a day in which some countries of the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth) remember the sacrifices of members of their armed forces and civilians in times of war.
The new king is also the new head of the Commonwealtha association of 56 independent countries and 2.4 billion people.
King Carlos III also becomes the head of state of 14 countries in the Commonwealth.
However, since Barbados became a republic in 2021, other kingdoms in the Commonwealth in the Caribbean have suggested that they might follow in his footsteps.
The image of King Carlos III will replace that of his mother in the new Royal Mail stampsthe country’s postal service, and on Bank of England notes.
image source, PA Medium
Prince George, the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Louis, Prince William and Princess Charlotte walk hand-in-hand on the children’s first day of school near Windsor.
Also, the text on the new British passports will be updated to read His Majesty (His Majesty, in masculine).
And the national anthem also changes with the new king: it now includes “God Save the King”instead of “God Save the Queen”.
Where does the monarchy live?
King Charles III and the Queen Consort are expected to move into Buckingham Palace, in the heart of London.
Previously they lived between the London residence of Clarence House, near the Buckingham Palaceand at Highgrove House, in the west of England.
Prince William and his wife, Princess Catherine, recently moved from Kensington Palace in west London to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, on the outskirts of the British capital.
image source, PA Medium
Members of the Royal Family celebrating the Queen’s official birthday at Buckingham Palace in 2019.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live in California, United States.
How popular is the monarchy?
According to a survey conducted by YouGov in the middle of this year, during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, 62% of Britons think the country should remain a monarchy; only 22% believe that the head of state should be elected.
Two Ipsos Mori surveys in 2021 returned very similar results: solo one in five British respondents believed that the abolition of the monarchy would be good for the UK.
However, the YouGov results suggested that there has been a decline in approval of the monarchy in the last decade. The approval rate went from 75% in 2012 to 62% in 2022.
Although there was majority support for the monarchy among the older age groups, the survey showed different data among the young.
In 2011, when YouGov first started polling on the issue, 59% of 18-24 year olds thought the monarchy should continue, compared to 33% in 2022.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.