VOY: Remember

[Madner Kami]

If King Charles III would do that, yeah. But Queen Elizabeth II? Not necessarily. She's popular enough that she could get away with it, depending on what matter she throws her weight behind.

[Beastro]

Fascinating. I didn't know the Queen still technically had that power, I thought Charles the first doing that type of stuff led to the English Civil War.

The Queen has that particular power on the condition that she never uses it. One of those quirks of British government.

There is no condition, it's just that everyone knows when it would cause trouble.

When she does exercise it when it's clearly of use there is no problem, as everyone sees the since in it, as in Yuri's example of the Australia's crisis.

Any British monarch could try to go back to exercising their powers like they did before Anne. We all know how that would turn out, but that does not mean they wouldn't be without the freedom to do so or in violation of anything.

I meant in a more informal sense. It's still on paper and on the books, but everyone knows that if the Queen ever did try to exercise all those powers in the UK, she'd be pressed into abdicating at the very least.

The Monarch is now a nuclear option: It's become rare for the Monarch to act, so if they should it's a clear sign of something going wrong. If that action causes no waves, then it's agreed upon and settled (Like in 70's Australia), if not, then it could become a canary revealing a deeper problem.

A situation might be that a would-be PM is dangerous enough for the Monarch to refuse them. Such a thing would cause problems, but if that person is a clear Hitler type, then the Monarch is doing their duty to their subjects even if the cost in the end may be the end of the Monarchy itself.

This is very much how the Thai monarchy operates given their internal problems and conflicts. People abroad can agree or disagree about it, but Bhumibol earned a reputation with his people strong enough that when he gave the nod and a military coop happened, the country as a whole didn't revolt wanting the monarchy abolished.

[Yukaphile]

Who the hell is the Monarch?

[Beelzquill]

Some guy in a butterfly suit who hates Dr. Venture, but I don't see how that's relevant here.

[Yukaphile]

I thought he was talking about the DC character of The Monarch, who blew up in Superboy-Prime's face in the lead-up to Infinite Crisis.

[Beelzquill]

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Who the hell is the Monarch?

People that are ordained by God to rule a country.

[Yukaphile]

I know that. But the way Beastro worded it was extremely confusing... at least for me.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I thought he was talking about the DC character of The Monarch, who blew up in Superboy-Prime's face in the lead-up to Infinite Crisis.

That whole prime thing was just a way for them to leach on to the original comics.

[Beelzquill]

See I thought the whole Prime thing was to bitch about comic book fans.