Thomas Moore (1779-1852), an Irish poet who sang his native land in the same way as Robert Burns sang Scotland. He was born in Dublin in a well-to-do family. He studied at Dublin University and then studied law in London. He published his first verses asPoems by Thomas Littlein 1801, then his romantic stories in verseLalla-Rookh (1&17). Thomas Moore was George Byron’s fried and after Byron's death he wrote the first biography of this great English poet,Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of His Life(1830).

Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) received a very good education. He began his education at Trinity College in Dublin and graduated from Oxford in 1878. Oscar Wilde wrote many poems, fairy tales (the best ones areThe Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Devoted Friend, The Star-Child, The Remarkable Rocketand others), plays(Lady Windwemere’s Fan, A Woman of no Importance, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband),critical essays and the novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray(1891).

Oscar Wilde died in Paris and is buried there.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dublin. His childhood was very difficult. At the age of 14 he was put into a job as clerk in a land agent’s office. In 1876 Shaw went to London where he became a Journalist and wrote music, art and dramatic critiques for various periodicals.

Shaw’s most important plays are Widower’s Houses, Mrs Warren’s Profession, The Apple Cart, Pygmalion, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Too Good to be True and many, many others.

In 1925 Bernard Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and he gave it all to spreading the Swedish literature in England.

George Bernard Shaw died on November 2, 1950 at the age of 94.

III. State and political structure

III.L. The monarchy

The position of the monarch in Britain is a perfect .illustration of the contradictory nature of the constitution. From the evidence ofwritten law only, the Queen has almost absolute power, and it allseems very undemocratic. The American constitution talks about 'government of the people, for the people, by the people'. There is no law In Britain, which says anything like that. In fact, there is no legalconcept of 'the people' at all.

Other countries have 'citizens'. But in Britain people are legally described as 'subjects' - subjects of Her Majesty the Queen. Moreover, there Is a principle of English law that the monarch can do nothing that Is legally wrong, in other words, Queen Elizabeth II is above the law. In practice, of course, the reality is very different. In fact, the Queen cannot choose anyone she likes to be Prime Minister. She has to choose someone who has the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. The person she chooses is the leader of the strongest party In the House of Commons. In reality the Queen has almost no power at all, When she opens Parliament each year, the speech she makes has been written for her. She makes no secret of this fact. She very obviously reads out the script that has been prepared for her, word for word.

What, then, is the monarch's role? Three roles are often mentioned. First, the monarch is the personal embodiment of the government. Because of the clear separation between the symbol of government (the Queen) and the actual government (the ministers, who are also MPs), changing the government does not threaten the stability of the country as a whole.

Second, it is argued that the monarch could act as a final check on a government that was becoming dictatorial.

Third, the monarch has a very practical role to play. By being a figurehead (the head or chief in name only) and representing the country, Queen Elizabeth II can perform the ceremonial duties, which heads of state often have to spend their time on. This way, the real government has more time to get on with the actual job of running the country.

For the last 250 years, the British monarchy as an institution has only rarely been a burning political issue. Only occasionally has there been debate about the existence of the monarchy itself. Few people in

Britain could be described as either 'monarchists' or 'anti-monarchists'. Most people are either vaguely in favour or they just don't care one way or the other. There is, however, a great deal of debate about what kind of monarchy Britain should have. There has been a general cooling of enthusiasm recently. The Queen herself remains popular. But the variO’us marital problems in her family have lowered the prestige of royalty in many people's eyes.

The change in attitude can be seen in many examples. On 20 November 1992, a fire damaged one of the Queen's favourite homes, Windsor castle, to the value of 60 mln pounds. There were expressions of public sympathy for the Queen. But when the government announced that public money was going to be paid for the repairs, the sympathy quickly turned to anger. The Queen has recently been reported to be the richest woman in the world (in 1992 her personal fortune was estimated at 6,6 billion pounds, which brought 2 mln pounds interest daily), so people didn’t see why she shouldn't pay for them herself.

As a response to the change in attitude, the Queen decided that she would start paying taxes on her private income (1992). In addition, Civil List payments to some members of the royal family were stopped. (The Civil List is the money that the Queen and some of her relatives get from Parliament each year so that they can carry out their public duties). Now the Civil List is limited to the Queen and her husband.

In 1993 parts of Buckingham Palace were opened for public visits (to raise money to keep pay for the repairs to Windsor Castle).

However, in 1997, she and other members of the Royal Family were perceived in the British tabloid press as cold and unfeeling when they did not participate in the public outpouring of grief at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Some people deny that Elizabeth held negative feelings towards Diana and cite as evidence of this the Queen bowing to Diana's coffin as it passed Buckingham Palace, something unprecedented .and unexpected. She also gave a liive television broadcast paying tribute to Diana. These actions redreessed tabloid opinion.

In recent years Elizabeth II has also been portrayed as being a very modern grandmother. She said to have been "addictted" to playing on a Nintendo Wii bought by Kate Middleton for her graindson, Prince William, and is also said to have set игр her own e-mail account, and own a mobile phone and an iPod.

These events are perhaps an indication of the future i royal style - a little less grand, a little less distant.

Elizabeth's father, George VI, was not a direct heir to the throne, being King George V's second son; his title was Duke of Y<’ork.

King George's eldest son Edward VIII had to abdicate (give up the throne) In 1936, after his father George V's death. This happened because he wanted to marry a woman, who had divorced two husbands. She was not even a British aristocrat - she was an American. The government and the major churches in the country insisted that Edward could not marry her and remain king. He chose to marry her. The couple then went to live abroad. In spite of the constitutional crisis that he caused, the Duke of Windsor (as Edward later became) and his wife were popular celebrities in Britain all their lives, and the King's abdication has gone down in popular history as an example of the power of love.

The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent (someone who cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change In the rules of succession) and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Since 1958, his major title has been HRH (His Royal Highness) the Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as the Duke of Rothesay.

He married Lady Diana Spencer before an enormous worldwide television audience in 1981. They had two sons, Prince William of Wales in 1982 and Prince Harry of Wales in 1984. The couple separated in 1992 following tabloid allegations concerning their relationship. They divorced in 1996 after Diana publicly accused Charles of having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, and Charles admitted adultery on television. Diana died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. In 2005, after a lengthy continued association, the Prince married Camilla, who uses the title Duchess of Cornwall.

As Prince of-Wales, Prince Charles undertakes a number of official duties on behalf of his mother, in her role as sovereign of any of the Commonwealth realms. He will frequently stand in for the Queen at the funerals of foreign dignitaries (which the Queen customarily does not attend), and at investitures into British orders.

Both Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall travel abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom. The Prince has been regarded as an effective advocate of the country, with his visit to the Republic of Ireland, where he delivered a personally researched and written speech on Anglo-Irish affairs that was warmly received by Irish politicians and the media, being cited as an example.

Prince William of Wales is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and second eldest grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is second In the line of succession, behind his father, to the thrones of 16 Independent states, while he resides mostly in, and is more directly Involved with, the United Kingdom, the oldest of these realms.

On 16 November 2010 it was announced by Clarence House, his home near Buckingham Palace, that Prince William and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton are to marry. The wedding is to be held at 11am on 29 April 2011 in Westminster Abbey, London.

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