The very fact that the authority of the Monarch is limited goes to show that in essence it is a democratic form of Government.
The King or Queen in Britain, as Bagehot remarks, has the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn; beyond this he or she cannot go. He or she does not exercise any real authority.
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The actual government is carried on by ministers who represent the majority party in the legislature. The legislature renews its mandate after every four or five years when General Elections are held.
Limited Monarchy, therefore, gives the people the real opportunity to actively participate in public affairs and elect administrators who rule the country according to their behest. It is the people who, in the last resort, are the ultimate sovereigns.
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The chief merit of a limited Monarchy in Britain is the hereditary nature of the ruler. By virtue of a long and uninterrupted tenure of office the King or Queen gains mature administrative experience to guide his or her ministers who are generally amateurs in the art of administration.
He or she exercises what Lowell calls the “unifying, dignifying and stabilising influence.” Moreover, the Monarch belongs to no party whereas his or her ministers belong to one. The Monarch, as such, is an umpire in the midst of rival parties, whose main concern is to see that the game of politics is played according to rules.
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The days of absolute Monarchy are over. Now even King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, who was the solitary example of an absolute Monarch, was ultimately replaced by Prince Feisal as a result of the decision taken by the Council of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly.
The powers of Kings, in all countries where Monarchy persists, have been limited either by the prescriptions of a written constitution or by fundamental conventions which form the basis of the Constitution. In Iran, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlvi was the national symbol and powers vested in him were really exercised by his council of ministers.
Constitutional monarchy is the only way now to maintain the hereditary principle and royal dignity. A limited Monarchy, according to Woodrow Wilson, “is one whose powers have been adapted to the interests of the people and to the maintenance of individual liberty.
Roughly speaking constitutional government may be said to have had its rise at Runnymede when the barons of England exacted the Magna Carta from John.”
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From a King arose, by slow and steady progress, the institution of Kingship and the Monarch now reigns; he or she does not rule. To put it in the legal form, the King or Queen can do no wrong.