British monarch 'asked for heating handout'

[Kanastrous]

Last time I was in London, I went to see the changing of the guard...

...because I wanted to watch the changing of the guard. The flag wasn't flying so I don't think royals were in residence at the time, anyway...

[Stuart Mackey]

The last time the monarch rejected a bill from Parliament was 1708 and since 1961 the monarch has not even been given legislation to read before signing it and is simply expected to do so upon presentation of the bill.

I am sure that the Queen is quite well aware of the contents of bills before they get to her for the assent or she would not be able to perform her principle constitutional duty to 'Advise, encourage and to warn'.
That she may not read them when they actually come up for the assent sounds like an administrative practice, the contents being known for the above reason, beforehand.

[Stuart Mackey]

I don' t remeber my president receiving 1.5 millions for the upkeep of his gas bills. Oh, and the president actually does something, instead of just sitting arround and being pretty.
Also, we choose the guy.

How quaint, you get fed millions of dollars in what amounts to propaganda about a guy you have never met, and probably never will, and think you actually choose him.

[Stuart Mackey]

Could the monarchy really 'use their power' for anything, in reality? I mean, okay, if some catastrophe were to somehow eliminate every last MP I guess the nation might rally around the monarchy as real leadership but somehow it seems that if the Queen (or any Royal) actually tried to impose their will upon Parliament for real, they'd get laughed at...

Well, the armed forces swear their oath of loyalty to the crown rather than Parliament. If push comes to shove, I wouldn't like to bet on whose side a majority would take.

And this would bother me a lot more if Her Majesty wasn't significantly brighter than our current Prime Minister. Prince Charles, on the other hand...

As I hear it he UK armed forces would be delighted to remove the government on HMQ's nod.

[Stuart Mackey]

Could the monarchy really 'use their power' for anything, in reality? I mean, okay, if some catastrophe were to somehow eliminate every last MP I guess the nation might rally around the monarchy as real leadership but somehow it seems that if the Queen (or any Royal) actually tried to impose their will upon Parliament for real, they'd get laughed at...

...should read up on the relevant law, I guess.

re: 'sitting around looking pretty' - do I need to post pictures of the present Queen and Consort, to knock that one over...?

I think the only time the Queen would act is if the politicians did something blatantly unconstitutional without public mandate to do so, like outright abolition of free speech or worse. But to be honest the Westminster system tends to be self correcting in many respects, so its never really been an issue.