Lesson 21: The British Monarchy in Modern Times: Continuity and Change

Britain is one of the few European states that kept its monarchy through the twentieth century's wars and revolutions. The modern monarchy survived by changing: it gave up political power, adopted a new family name, embraced broadcasting and charity work, and accepted that its survival depends on public consent. This lesson traces that adaptation from 1917 to the present.

A new name and a new role

In 1917, during the First World War, George V changed the royal house's name from the German-sounding Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor, after the castle — a response to anti-German feeling. The same king established the pattern of the modern constitutional monarch: reigning but not ruling, acting on ministerial advice, and serving as a symbol of national unity. His son Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936, after less than a year on the throne, in order to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American; his brother became George VI, whose wartime broadcasts and refusal to leave London during the Blitz made the monarchy a focus of morale in the Second World War.

Elizabeth II: seventy years

Elizabeth II acceded in 1952 and was crowned on 2 June 1953, in the first coronation to be televised. Her reign of seventy years — marked by the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 — spanned decolonisation, the end of empire, Britain's entry into and exit from the European Union, and the devolution of power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. She held a weekly audience with each of her fifteen prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss, and undertook hundreds of overseas visits. Her role as head of the Commonwealth — an association of mostly former British territories — became increasingly important as the empire receded: by the end of her reign, most Commonwealth members were republics that retained her only as a symbolic head of the association, not as their head of state.

Money, media and criticism

The monarchy's funding changed with the Sovereign Grant Act of 2011, under which the monarch receives a grant calculated as a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate, replacing the older Civil List. The monarch's personal wealth, the cost of royal residences and security, and the tax arrangements of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are all subjects of public debate, because the relevant accounts are only partly public. The 1990s were difficult years — the divorces of three of the Queen's children, the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, after which the royal family's initial response was widely criticised. The monarchy recovered public standing in the 2000s and 2010s, but republican sentiment, organised by groups such as Republic, remains a minority but persistent presence in British politics.

Charles III and the Commonwealth realms

Charles III acceded in September 2022 and was crowned on 6 May 2023. He remains head of state not only of the United Kingdom but of fourteen other Commonwealth realms, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica — though that number is falling: Barbados became a republic in November 2021, and Jamaica has debated following. Whether the realms keep a British monarch as head of state is a decision for each realm's own people and parliament, and the lesson records that debate without predicting its outcome.

Why it matters

The monarchy's survival is a case study in institutional adaptation: an institution that once ruled now survives by symbolising, by serving charities and the armed forces, and by accepting scrutiny it once escaped. Its future will be decided less by tradition than by whether new generations find that bargain worthwhile.