The royal family

Name	Birth	Marriage		Issue	Divorce
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales	14 Nov. 1948	29 Jul 1981	Lady Diana Spencer	Prince William of Wales Prince Henry of Wales	28 Aug 1996
		9 Apr 2005	Camilla Parker-Bowles
Princess Anne, Princess Royal	15 Aug. 1950	14 Nov 1973	Mark Phillips	Peter Phillips Zara Phillips	28 Apr 1992
		12 Dec 1992	Timothy Laurence
Prince Andrew, Duke of York	19 Feb. 1960	23 Jul 1986	Sarah Ferguson	Princess Beatrice of York Princess Eugenie of York	30 May 1996
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex	10 Mar. 1964	19 Jun 1999	Sophie Rhys-Jones	Lady Louise Windsor Viscount Severn

The Sovereign

'Her Most Excellent Majesty Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.'

The Queen is the official Head of State and, for many people, a symbol of the unity of the nation. For a thousand years England (and later the whole of the UK) has been united under one sovereign, a continuity broken only after the Civil War, by the republic of 1649 to 1660. The hereditary principle still operates and the Crown is passed on to the sovereign's eldest son (or daughter if there are no sons).

The Queen has a central role in state affairs, not only through her ceremonial functions, such as opening Parliament, but also because she meets the Prime Minister every week and receives copies of all Cabinet papers. However, she is expected to be impartial or 'above polities', and any advice she may offer the Prime Minister is kept secret.

Functions of the Sovereign

• opening and closing Parliament

• approving the appointment of the Prime Minister

• giving her Royal Assent to bills

• giving honours such as peerages, knighthoods and medals

• Head of the Commonwealth

• Head of the Church of England

• Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces

The Royal Family

Britain, one of the few remaining monarchies in the world, has been continuously ruled by a king or queen since the 9th century, except for a brief period from 1649 to 1660, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of the Common­wealth.

The present sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, has been on the throne since 1952. Her official royal title is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith'. Her husband is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and their four children are Prince Charles, who has the title Prince of Wales, Princess Anne, called the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, who is the Duke of York, and Prince Edward. The Royal Family also includes the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, and their mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the widow of George VI. The eldest son (or, if there is no son, the eldest daughter) of the monarch is heir to the throne; so Prince Charles is due to succeed his mother on her death or if she abdicates.

Although the Queen personifies the state, and is nominally commander-in-chief of all armed forces as well as 'supreme governor' of the Church of England, it is the government hat actually governs in her name. It is said that the Queen 'reigns, not rules' in aconstitutional monarchy. The Queen participates in a number of formal acts. As the sovereign she summons or dissolves Parliament, gives royal assent to Bills by Parliament (so that they become Acts), confers peerages and knighthoods, and appoints many important office holders, such as government ministers (including the prime minister), judges, officers in the armed services, diplomats and bishops. The sovereign also grants a royal pardon to a person who is shown to have been wrongly convicted of a crime, but all these acts are performed only at the request of the government in power. The sovereign has no power to act independently.

The Queen and other members of the royal family carry out a number of official duties throughout the year. Some of them, such as the Trooping of the Colour or the State Opening of Parliament, involve considerable ceremony and pageantry. Other typical duties include visiting different parts of the country to open new buildings such as hospitals or schools, awarding prizes, and attending special charity or sporting events. Such royal visits are reported daily in the 'Court Circular' in The Times and some other papers.

Trooping the Colour takes place on the Queen's 'Official Birthday' (the second Saturday in June), and this is also when the Birthday Honours are announced. These are the titles and awards conferred by the Queen on the advice of the government to people who are . judged to have earned them, and include knighthoods and awards such as Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and Order of the British Empire (OBE). Similar awards are also announced in the New Year Honours list.

The cost of fulfilling these duties is paid from the Civil List, an annual sum granted to members of the royal family by Parliament. Parliament also pays for the cost of maintaining the Royal Yacht, which is used for royal visits abroad, and the Royal Flight (the aircraft similarly used).

The Queen's chief official residence is Buckingham Palace in London, which was originally bought in 1761 by George III Other royal palaces in Britain, used mostly for holidays, are Windsor Castle, near London, Sandringham House in Norfolk, and Balmoral Castle, near Braemar in Scotland.

The Queen and other members of the royal family, especially the Queen Mother, who celebrated her 90th birthday in 1990, are generally regarded with respect and even affection. Prince Charles is admired by many people for expressing his often controversial views (notably on modern architecture and education) and for his positive aims and ambitions for the future of Britain.