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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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constitutional monarchy
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The rule by a king or queen based on statutes which limit the monarch's power. The basis of all modern European monarchies, the concept was pioneered in Britain in the late 17C when the absolute monarchy associated with the *divine right of kings was made impossible by a series of measures beginning with the *Bill of Rights in 1689. It was the *Reform Act of 1832 which finally gave *parliament a sufficiently strong democratic mandate for the monarch's role to be gradually reduced to its present largely symbolic status.
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