The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952.
The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic and representational duties. As the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. Though the ultimate formal executive authority over the government of the United Kingdom is still by and through the monarch 's royal prerogative, these powers may only be used according to laws enacted in Parliament and, in practice, within the constraints of convention and precedent.
The British monarchy traces its origins from the petty kingdoms of early medieval Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England, which consolidated into the kingdoms of England and Scotland by the 10th century AD. In 1066, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon monarch, Harold Godwinson, was defeated and killed during the Norman conquest of England and the English monarchy passed to the Normans' victorious leader, William the Conqueror, and his descendants.
From the 1080s, the lordships of South Wales were held by a succession of Norman families inter- married with older Welsh houses loyal to the English throne, with many lordships also held by the English King in his own right. The process was completed in the 13th century when the north of Wales, as a principality, became a client state of the English kingdom, while Magna Carta began a process of reducing the English monarch 's political powers.
From 1603, when the Scottish monarch James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign.
