# If King Charles III Tried To Assert Power, What Would Happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175 "2019-04-07T15:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/41 "2019-04-09T13:51:36Z")
After the first atomic bomb was dropped, the power makers in the Japanese government and military were locked in a 3-3 tie on the question of accepting the terms of surrender offered by the allies. Even the entry of the Soviets and the second bombing did not change the numbers. Emperor Hirohito was normally obligated to defer to his advisers, but given the hopeless deadlock, finally spoke out in favor of capitulating. Of course, the terms had changed to allow the emperor to remain in power (although at a reduced position). When I was first studying the accounts I did not appreciate the actual limitations of his power. It look the fate of the country being on the line before he could act. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/42 "2019-04-09T18:56:34Z")
> [@Mnemnosyne](#): > > I doubt there’s an explicit rule or law against one of the royals being an MP or even PM. So, if a party with a strong majority were to, like the Republicans in the US, be more concerned about victory than maintaining the norms of their respective institutions, and this was likely to bring victory, I suppose it is possible? > > I’m pretty sure it would be considered egregious for the monarch to be actively in support of a particular party, much less a member of it, though. But honestly, I’m not sure if it would actually be a bad thing; I don’t know if there’s any genuinely negative effects that would come from it, other than bucking tradition. IIRC, the hereditary Lords could not sit in the commons. The monarch only comes into the house by invitation. I assume any royal family member wanting to participate in the commons would have to first renounce their titles? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/43 "2019-04-09T19:22:19Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > IIRC, the hereditary Lords could not sit in the commons. The monarch only comes into the house by invitation. I assume any royal family member wanting to participate in the commons would have to first renounce their titles? Reform of the House of Lords in 1999 changed that quite a bit. Only 92 hereditary Peers can sit in the Lords now - down from 800+ before - and any hereditary who doesn’t sit in the Lords can sit as an MP on the same basis as anyone else, and indeed a couple have. So there’s nothing really to stop a member of the Royal Family from having a go, other than Queenly disapproval I suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/44 "2019-04-09T19:41:49Z")
But King Charles cannot stand for election to the Commons, because he is already part of Parliament. Just like a hereditary Lord couldn’t sit in the Commons because he had a seat in the Lords, the monarch can’t be a member of either House. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/45 "2019-04-10T00:44:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But King Charles cannot stand for election to the Commons, because he is already part of Parliament. Just like a hereditary Lord couldn’t sit in the Commons because he had a seat in the Lords, the monarch can’t be a member of either House. Similarly he couldn’t be Prime Minister (as suggested in #post 11). The Prime Minister is appointed to advise the monarch, and the monarch can’t appoint himself to advise himself. Hypothetically, a monarch wishing to exercise the powers of the Prime Minister would simply not have a Prime Minister at all and would preside over the Cabinet himself, and make the decisions that otherwise would be made by a Prime Minister. The modern office of Prime Minister evolved in the early eighteenth century - Walpole is generally counted as the first Prime Minister. The office emerged, at least in part, because George I had such limited English that he couldn’t preside effectively over meeting of his own council; the function passed to a senior, or prime, minister. Prior to this time the monarch had a council of advisers and from time to time some advisers, or one adviser, might be particularly prestigious or influential or trusted, but there was no one minister appointed to be senior to, and preside over, the others. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/46 "2019-04-10T18:31:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The other option, of course, is to abolish the monarchy and set up a constitutional republic. That may well be about to happen in parts of the UK like Scotland because of this brexit mess. I would find it ironic if by trying to “take back control” (please read in a vain and pompous voice) the UK ended up being dismembered into three or four new Nations, all of which except one would end up applying for membership in the EU. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/47 "2019-04-12T16:56:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > …BTW, a recent film (based on a play) called [King Charles III](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Charles_III_(film)) is about what happens when the future king refuses to sign off on a bill about press freedom, and the resulting crisis. Haven’t seen that yet, but it looks interesting. I also encourage people to see the second season of the original British _House of Cards_ series, called _To Play the King_, in which the evil Tory PM and a progressive, reform-minded monarch who seems quite a lot like a certain current Prince of Wales square off. The irony is that the evil PM is entirely in the right, constitutionally, and the King is in the wrong. Zany British political hijinks ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/48 "2019-04-12T17:11:04Z")
That film, King Charles III, was on PBS Masterpiece, in the usual slot at 9pm on Sundays a couple of weeks ago. If you have access to the PBS streaming service, you may be able to watch it that way. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175/49 "2019-04-13T11:17:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I also encourage people to see the second season of the original British _House of Cards_ series, called _To Play the King_, in which the evil Tory PM and a progressive, reform-minded monarch who seems quite a lot like a certain current Prince of Wales square off. The irony is that the evil PM is entirely in the right, constitutionally, and the King is in the wrong. +1 It important in the plot that before FU begins any move against the King he obtains the backing of “The Lady” (the Princess Diana equivalent) that her son would succeed the King. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-king-charles-iii-tried-to-assert-power-what-would-happen/832175.md?page=2)