The Sovereign

The Sovereign
Incumbent	Vacant
Style	His or Her Majesty
Residence	Buckingham Palace, London, SW1A 1AA
Role	Head of state
Gives	Royal Assent, honours, appointments

The Sovereign is the head of state of the United Kingdom. The Sovereign reigns but does not rule: by long convention every power of the Crown is used on the advice of ministers who answer to Parliament, and the Sovereign stays above party politics.

Constitutional role

The Sovereign is one of the three parts of Parliament, alongside the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Sovereign opens each session of Parliament, appoints the Prime Minister (the person who can command the confidence of the Commons), and appoints other ministers on the Prime Minister's advice. The Sovereign has the right to be consulted, to encourage and to warn, and meets the Prime Minister privately each week.

Royal Assent

Once a bill has passed both Houses of Parliament, it is presented to the Sovereign for Royal Assent, the final step that turns it into an Act of Parliament. Assent has not been refused for more than three hundred years, and by convention it is always given to a bill that Parliament has passed. In UKOGB each Act given Royal Assent is added to the laws on the website and published in the Gazette, and it can move the economic and social figures published by the Office for National Statistics.

Fount of honour

Every honour in the honours system is given in the Sovereign's name. Most are awarded on the advice of the Prime Minister, but some, such as the Order of the Garter, the Order of Merit and the Royal Victorian Order, are the Sovereign's personal gift.

Royal Household

Members of the Royal Household support the Sovereign's work: arranging official engagements, handling correspondence and announcing royal business. On the UKOGB website the Sovereign can give Royal Assent to bills, and the household posts in the royal announcements channel.