# The last English monarch with power? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481 "2017-03-05T16:10:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/1 "2017-03-05T16:10:16Z")
So the Queen of the United Kingdom has virtually no say in the running of her government or church but how long has this been the case? Certainly not the glorious revolution since I think King George the 3rd had some power. Victoria? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/2 "2017-03-05T16:55:00Z")
Did Victoria really have any significant power? She probably could have, being so beloved, but there would have been enough Parliamentary opposition, it likely would have either backfired or just caused uncomfortable controversy. She was wise enough not to start that kind of ruckus. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/3 "2017-03-05T17:11:25Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Did Victoria really have any significant power? She probably could have, being so beloved, but there would have been enough Parliamentary opposition, it likely would have either backfired or just caused uncomfortable controversy. She was wise enough not to start that kind of ruckus. Actually, Victoria was mostly beloved in retrospect. There were widespread complaints about her during most of her reign and some people talked about ending the monarchy. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/4 "2017-03-05T17:17:17Z")
Elizabeth II. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/5 "2017-03-05T17:45:58Z")
It was a sorta gradual decline and you could pick a number of candidates, depending on your definition of “real power.” William IV was able ( with considerable political backing ) to dissolve a sitting Parliament to allow for a new election in 1831. That may have been the last real decisive, direct impact on a British government. Victoria tried to act more behind the scenes. But yes as **AK84** noted, you could argue that even Elizabeth II has _some_ real power just by virtue of her position and prestige. Again, it is where you draw the line. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/6 "2017-03-05T18:03:07Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Elizabeth II. I agree. She’s still got it, even though she couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t use it, other than to rubber-stamp decisions of the Privy Council. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/7 "2017-03-05T18:49:56Z")
If you’re thinking of power as in power to impact legislation, the last monarch to use their power of veto on a parliamentary bill was Queen Anne way back in 1707. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/8 "2017-03-05T19:02:22Z")
I’m gonna go with “Gradual Decline” between the Glorious Revolution and the House of Lords crises in the early 20th Century. You can’t really say the monarch has “no power” because technically she does, and then if you say “well, in _practice_ she doesn’t have any,” then you’d have to also ignore that in practice she also has the ear of the cabinet and the nation. I’m not British but my sense is that she has more influence than the average back bencher MP by virtue of this bully pulpit, and not as much influence as the PM, but I’m not sure where on the continuum she falls between them. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/9 "2017-03-05T19:07:42Z")
The [Parliament Act 1911](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_Act_1911) (which curtailed the ability of the House of Lords to block legislation) passed mainly because George V promised to create enough Liberal peers to swamp the Conservatives in the Lords if they did not pass it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/10 "2017-03-05T19:21:33Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > So the Queen of the United Kingdom has virtually no say in the running of her government or church but how long has this been the case? QE2 chose a Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/11 "2017-03-05T20:54:29Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Elizabeth II. Knew it. I knew someone would _insist_ that the current monarch has actual power. Much like how people _insist_ that the modern UK has no similarity with republics, because it isn’t a republic, innit? Got a Queen, innit? It’s like how American states _are too_ sovereign, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Power you can’t use is power you don’t have. Trying to quote theory, especially about the _British_ government, is pointless, and probably deliberately so. Some questions must _never_ get a good answer. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/12 "2017-03-05T21:11:31Z")
A complementary question is: _Which English monarchs had the greatest power?_ Am I correct that some of the Tudors, e.g. Elizabeth I, would rank high on that list? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/13 "2017-03-07T01:20:17Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > If you’re thinking of power as in power to impact legislation, the last monarch to use their power of veto on a parliamentary bill was Queen Anne way back in 1707. And she did that on the advice of her ministers. (The situation on the ground had changed since the Bill passed through parliament, and the government of the day no longer wished it to become law, so they advised the Queen to withhold her assent, which she did.) > [@slash2k](#): > > The [Parliament Act 1911](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_Act_1911) (which curtailed the ability of the House of Lords to block legislation) passed mainly because George V promised to create enough Liberal peers to swamp the Conservatives in the Lords if they did not pass it. And he did that on the advice of his ministers. This one, in fact, is evidence of a _constraint_ on the position of the monarch, not the exercise of monarchical power. George V’s personal instinct would not have been to create additional peers to get the Parliament Act through, but having been advised by his government to agree to do so he felt he had no choice but to accept and act on that advice. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/14 "2017-03-07T06:46:30Z")
The last real move a monarch made against the wishes of his PM was George V’s rejection of the resignation of Ramsay MacDonald in 1931. (MacDonalds’ Labour government was badly divided during a financial crisis.) George V refused to accept it until MacDonald made a serious effort to form a coalition government. It should be noted the King knew the Tories and Liberals were very interested in a coalition, and undoubtedly would have accepted the resignation if he knew the other parties had no interest. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/15 "2017-03-07T12:41:42Z")
King George VI opposed the nomination of[Hugh Dalton as Foreign Secretary in 1945](https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=Tn27AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=Hugh+Dalton+King+foreign+secretary+opposed&source=bl&ots=5jZ9THDCeu&sig=cN7NjucpdFCpfF5CDQUh2YmUFoo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVoeectMTSAhWE0hoKHcOTCwAQ6AEINzAF#v=onepage&q=Hugh%20Dalton%20King%20foreign%20secretary%20opposed&f=false)and instead thought Earnest Bevan should get it, Attlee agreed. [QUOTE=Darleth] Knew it. I knew someone would insist that the current monarch has actual power. Much like how people insist that the modern UK has no similarity with republics, because it isn’t a republic, innit? Got a Queen, innit? It’s like how American states are too sovereign, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Power you can’t use is power you don’t have. Trying to quote theory, especially about the British government, is pointless, and probably deliberately so. Some questions must never get a good answer [/QUOTE] The current monarch has significant _de jure_ power and quite a bit of _de facto_ power by virtue of being well, the Queen, who regularly speaks with the PM and the Cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-english-monarch-with-power/781481/16 "2017-03-07T12:58:10Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Power you can’t use is power you don’t have. Actually, it’s power you _don’t_ use. Think desuetude. > [@](#): > > Some questions must _never_ get a good answer. Yes, very true.