FOR those born after 1952 , there is only one British monarch you would know of and that would be Queen Elizabeth II.

This speaks to the seeming permanence of her reign; she was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch who celebrated her 70th year on the throne just a few months ago.

After the accession of the queen’s oldest son, Prince Charles, the national anthem will be reverting to “God Save the King”. 

Malaya was still under the rule of a British governor when Elizabeth laid claim to the throne in 1952, Malaysia didn’t exist until 11 years later.

There is sadness, mourning and plenty of reflection as the world comes to terms with her death, which came as a shock despite her advanced years.

She was known for her grace, dignity and sense of duty as the head of state, and it was the latter that will serve as one of her most important legacies.

Like the Malaysian monarch, the queen was invested with some discretionary powers.

The first was the power to appoint the prime minister and it was invoked when she decided to appoint Harold Macmillan in 1957 and Alex Douglas-Home in1963 to the office.

It should be noted that in both instances, it was a political crisis within the Conservative party that forced the Queen into the awkward position to meddle in the selection of the prime minister.

If the queen has more than one candidate to choose from, she could not make a decision that would put her neutrality into question.

The conclusion that the political establishment in Britain came to is to remove the prerogative of the Queen and instead let party MPs and members to elect their prime minister.

This important development has actually led the Conservative Party to have a selection mechanism where in the event of a resignation, such as Boris Johnson, the party could democratically elect its successor.

Therefore, the appointment of Liz Truss would invite no criticism but, in consequence, the decision is treated as a fait accompli to the crown and the queen has effectively lost any discretion in the choice of Prime Minister.

Also, unlike Malaysia, the prerogative was not restored nor enhanced in the event of hung parliament; the 2010 hung parliament in the UK general election did not enhance the Queen’s role in appointing a new prime minister.

In fact, the queen had made a point of not siding with anyone and distancing herself from a potential hung parliament chaos by removing herself from Buckingham palace and ensconce at Windsor Castle.

This is explicitly done so to hint at the political establishment that the monarch would only exercise her duty once a credible candidate emerged.

This is in effect the Queen telling her political subjects that: I want no part in any negotiations and would only endorse once you decide.

And the queen should be credited for her “non-interference” for the 2010 coalition government because the coalition government is largely stable and governed for the full term.

Secondly, to my knowledge, the queen had also not refused any dissolution from the request of a prime minister since her reign and that would mean the discretion to refuse an early dissolution had also been diminished.

Besides that, it is also testament to the queen’s persistence to remain above politics that nobody knew what she really felt about politics. 

The restraint that the queen had practised throughout her reign where she only confined herself to the constitutional rights to be consulted; to encourage; and to warn when it comes to government affairs has only further enhanced her reputation.

For all the criticism of how out of touch the monarchy system might create, the Queen may realize that the modern century zeitgeist is a democratically elected government supplemented by a unifying and apolitical head of state.

The fastidiousness that the queen has displayed in ensuring the crown should be and must be seen to be apolitical endears to the UK people, that having been divided by the vicissitudes of politics, could be unified under an impartial head of state.   

In Malaysia, where the monarch has at times been forced to be more assertive because of the pandemic and political instability, Queen Elizabeth’s passing is a good reminder of the kind of constitutional monarchy that we inherited from the British. – September 11, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.