'Happy and Glorious': The Queen at her Golden Jubilee

The custom of a monarch celebrating a period of successful rule by a jubilee goes back to Ancient Egypt. The pharaohs marked the occasion by dancing round their palace. The Queen of England will not be dancing in the streets, but she celebrates her Golden Jubilee this year by touring the kingdom she has reigned over for half a century and by starring in many spectacular events.

If Americans are not quite clear exactly what role Elizabeth II plays in the constitution, they need not apologize. The British are often confused themselves. Their foreign secretary, Jack Straw, recently referred to prime minister Tony Blair as "the head of state," which is in fact the Queen's position.

By what authority the Queen reigns is unclear -- or at any rate undefined -- as are many other aspects of the British constitution. The English legal doctrine defines sovereignty as continuous; that is, the moment the monarch dies, the next in line by hereditary right automatically succeeds. When George VI died in 1952, Elizabeth II, his elder daughter, was proclaimed by the herald in these words: "The King is dead, long live the Queen." She reigns "by the grace of God." However, both these claims are ritualistic rather than real. When Queen Anne died childless in 1714, the government changed the dynasty by inviting the Elector of Hanover to come and rule. He was the nearest Protestant claimant to the throne, though dozens of people had a better hereditary right to it. The choice ended the assumption that the monarch reigned by divine right, and the new Hanoverian king, George I, admitted as much by claiming no supernatural powers.

In fact, the events of 1714 marked the point at which the British monarchy became parliamentary, though at no stage has Parliament ever claimed the right to make or unmake a sovereign. Moreover, the archbishop of Canterbury, as primate of the established church, continues to give a supposed divine sanction to the reign by placing the crown on the new sovereign's head in a coronation ceremony that goes back to the Dark Ages. The Queen is, ex officio, "Supreme Governor" of the Anglican Church, and in law her agreement is needed before any bishop or dignitary of that church is appointed. But it is generally supposed that this church could be disestablished, thus removing the throne's ecclesiastical underpinnings, without threatening the monarchical institution, and the proposal is often discussed, especially since Anglicanism has become only the second or third most professed creed in Britain.

What all this amounts to -- put brutally -- is that the monarchy is a mere convenience, accepted by the British people because it works well, on the whole, and because changing the system would be too much trouble. Why is it convenient? To begin with, because a hereditary head of state obviates the need for periodic elections and the conflict they involve; raises the occupant above party; and avoids dispute about title. It also ensures continuity of state.

After a reign of 50 years, the Queen knows much more about government than any of her ministers, is a vast depository of experience and precedents, and is acquainted with virtually everyone who matters in foreign countries, and especially in the British Commonwealth. It is true that her powers are limited by custom, being defined as "the right to be consulted [by ministers], the right to encourage, and the right to warn." But this is not a legal definition: It is merely the opinion of a Victorian guru, Walter Bagehot, as expressed in his little book The English Constitution. There remains a mysterious area of power, the prerogative, which can be activated in times of real crisis.

The ceremonial and dignified side of monarchy inspires awe, and the need of the head of government to defer to the monarch is a safeguard against what has been called "the tyranny of the democratic majority" and any demagogue who exploits it. No matter how great the size of a prime minister's parliamentary majority and his popular vote, he still has to bow the knee to the Queen and kiss her hands when she gives him his seals of office, and it is still within her power to dismiss him, though no such drastic step has been taken since the 1830s.

The Queen also stands at the center of a nexus of traditional functions that enhance her prestige and the awe she inspires. She is head of the Commonwealth. She herself chooses recipients of Britain's two highest honors, the Order of Merit, which goes to the top professional men and women, and the Order of the Garter, for the grandees and service chiefs. Through her Lords Lieutenant in each county, chosen mainly from leading landowners, she keeps in close touch with local elites, and through her own farms and estates, her patronage of racing, her colonelship of many regiments, her clerical appointments, her presidency of countless organizations (from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution), she is a meaningful leader to millions of traditional professionals and voluntary workers. Prime ministers come and go -- the Queen has seen the back of nine, and Tony Blair brings the total of her "chief servants" to ten. Everything operates in the name of the crown, as it did in George III's day, from the postal service to London's royal parks, and foreign envoys are still accredited to "the Court of St. James' Palace" -- not Downing Street -- just as when John Adams was the first U.S. envoy to Britain.