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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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Royal Prerogative
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The residue (small and possibly non-existent under *constitutional monarchy) of the monarch's ancient power to do whatever he or she likes in public affairs. In practice it is used now to cover all those acts of government requiring no specific authority from parliament; these include the appointment of high officials, aspects of foreign affairs, and the summoning and dissolving of parliament. In the rare circumstance where it is not clear which political leader should be invited first to form a government, the sovereign might still be able to exercise a choice amounting to a genuine use of the royal prerogative; and theoretically, in a national crisis, it could be used in refusing the *royal assent.
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The phrase most commonly comes to public attention in the form of the royal prerogative of mercy, for the sovereign has the exclusive right to grant pardons (a dispensation of great urgency before the abolition of *capital punishment). But even this form of royal prerogative is only exercised on government advice – that of the home secretary or of the secretary of state for Scotland.
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