ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the structure and roles of the institutions of central government – the Crown, Privy Council, Prime Minister, Cabinet, Ministers and government Departments. The Act of Settlement 1700 provides that succession to the throne is confined to members of the Protestant religion and specifically excludes Roman Catholics, or those married to Roman Catholics, from succession. Succession to the Crown traditionally devolves according to the principles of primogeniture, that is to say that male heirs, and their children, take precedence over female heirs. The Regency Act 1937 provides that the Sovereign may appoint Counsellors of State, charged with the responsibility of carrying out the Sovereign’s duties whenever he or she is either absent from the United Kingdom, or suffering from temporary physical or mental illness. Those eligible to be appointed include the Monarch’s spouse and the next four persons in line of succession.
