General information about the political system of the uk

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Great Britain for short, is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the official head of the State is a monarch (a king or queen) who accepts the advice of a parliament and whose power is limited by the constitution. Great Britain is also a parliamentary democracy. That is, it is a country whose government is controlled by a parliament elected by the people. As far as the constitution is concerned, there is no single written document which can be appealed to as the highest law of the land. The constitution is based on customs, traditions and common rules and regulations.

There are three branches of power and its head is the monarch. There you can see a table of the main institutions of each branch of power.

The Queen
The Legislature (makes laws)	The Executive (puts laws into effect and plans policy)	The Judiciary (decides on cases that arise out of the laws)
Parliament of the United Kingdom	Her Majesty's Government	Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Scottish Parliament	Scottish Local Government	The Supreme Courts of Scotland
National Assembly for Wales	Welsh Local government	Her Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales
Northern Ireland Assembly	Local government in Northern Ireland	The Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland

In the further articles I’d like to provide more information about the history of the political system, the monarchy, the government and parliament.

Looking back at the past

The United Kingdom hasn’t been always a constitutional monarchy. The thing is that once Britain wasn’t a monarchy at all!

In this article I’d like to provide you with some information concerning the beginning of the monarchy and parliament.

PS I know that the information may seem a bit boring, but I’m pretty sure you’ve always wanted to know who was the first king of Britain!

Monarchy

When the territory of the present England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland was inhabited by separated tribes, there wasn’t any idea of making a union with the one and only head of it. That’s why at the time of the Neolithic Britons, the “Beaker” people, the Celts (it’s the period which lasted since 3000 BC till 43 AD) there wasn’t a united country. Speaking about the Roman invasion (43-410), it just increased the separation and differences between England, Wales and Scotland, Ireland, but also didn’t give the union to british tribes (as the Romans were mere conquerors, not settlers).

English Monarchs

With the arrival of the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) to the territory of modern England and the southern part of Scotland some things changed. The Anglo-Saxons established a number of kingdoms, some of which still exist in country or regional names: Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), Middlesex (probably a kingdom of Middle Saxons), East Anglia (East Angles). The leaders of these kingdoms were more powerful than those of separated tribes, and by the middle of the seventh century the three largest kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, were the most powerful.

It was not until a century later than one of these kings, King Offa of Mercia (757-96), claimed “kingship of the English”, nevertheless, he didn’t control all of England. But it was King Offa who is considered to be the first king of England. After him Egbert, King of Wessex (r. 802-839) came (he is also considered to be the first as there’s a difference of views), than Ethelwulf (r. 839-856) reigned and it all continued till the Battle of Hastings.

There you can see an Anglo-Saxon family tree: Anglo-Saxon family tree.pdf