Book contents
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2021
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- Chapter 4 The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2021
- Chapter 5 The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
- Chapter 6 The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
- Chapter 7 The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2021
- Chapter 8 The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2021
- Chapter 9 The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2021
- Chapter 10 The Impossible Office?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 7 - The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2021
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2021
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2021
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- Chapter 4 The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2021
- Chapter 5 The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
- Chapter 6 The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
- Chapter 7 The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2021
- Chapter 8 The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2021
- Chapter 9 The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2021
- Chapter 10 The Impossible Office?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The history of the prime minister and of the monarchy are inextricably linked. The monarchy continued to exercise real authority for the first 200 years of the prime minister’s existence. The transfer of power was painful, faltering, and contested. The continued existence of the monarchy was never a given. It had been abolished in Britain in 1649, as it was in France in 1792 (and 1848 and 1870), Germany in 1918, and Italy in 1946. Aside from the queen, and the British Commonwealth, only twenty-eight countries still retain a monarchy, just 15 per cent of the total. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden retain monarchies with ceremonial duties, but beyond Europe, they tend to be found in the Muslim world, and include some with absolute power, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
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- The Impossible Office?The History of the British Prime Minister, pp. 220 - 249Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021