Royal family of the United Kingdom is the family of the reigning monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. King Charles III, who succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is currently the most important member of the royal family. Elizabeth was the monarch for a record 70 years until her death in 2022. Charles’s son Prince William is the heir to the throne, and William’s children rank next in the line of succession.
Around the monarch is an inner circle made up of the king’s close family. This circle includes Charles’s wife Camilla, known as the queen consort; his sons William and Harry; and William’s and Harry’s wives and children. Other close family members include Charles’s siblings—Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. Members of the king’s more extended family occasionally represent the monarch at public occasions. People sometimes speak of them collectively as “the royals.”
The monarch’s subjects have traditionally regarded the monarch and his or her family with great affection and respect. The monarch, like his or her predecessors in the Windsor dynasty (line of monarchs), is a symbol of the power and prestige of the United Kingdom. The monarch is also the head of the Church of England and the Commonwealth of Nations. The monarch’s portrait traditionally appears on all United Kingdom postage stamps. A king’s or queen’s coat of arms, or sometimes the simple image of a crown, appears on every official document and building. People often use the term the Crown to mean the monarchy as an institution and symbol of the nation.
Tradition also demands that, because the royal family represents so many things, it should itself be above reproach. Since the time of Charles III’s great-great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901), it has been assumed that the monarch’s family life must be a moral and religious example to others. In modern times, Queen Elizabeth’s own life strictly observed these standards, but a number of incidents concerning her children upset this view. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, while respect and affection for the queen remained high, the reputation of the royal family as a whole declined. See the History section of this article.
At work
The king and Parliament.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. It is a country with an unwritten constitution (set of laws) in which the monarch, or sovereign, is head of state, although not head of the government. As the monarch, King Charles’s most important official duty is the State Opening of Parliament. This ceremony is performed annually or after a general election. Accompanied by other members of the family, the king travels by ceremonial horse-drawn coach from Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s home in London, England, to the House of Commons (the lower house of Parliament). He reads a speech prepared for him by the prime minister outlining the legislation proposed for the new session of Parliament. The purpose of the ceremony is to enhance the dignity and authority of Parliament, which now wields the supreme power that once belonged to the king’s predecessors. Although Parliament alone has the right to introduce and discuss legislation, Acts of Parliament can only become law after the king has signed them. This process is called the Royal Assent. 
In addition, the king still has a set of powers known collectively as the Royal Prerogative. The most important power is the right to appoint the prime minister. The generally agreed convention (custom) is that the king invites the leader of whichever political party has a majority in the House of Commons to take the post. If no party has a majority, or the majority party has no recognized leader, it remains the king’s duty to appoint a premier and a government, or to call for new elections. He also has the right to pass Orders in Council, decrees issued by the Crown when a matter of great importance confronts the nation. Orders in Council get their name from the fact that they are proclaimed with the advice of the Privy Council, the king’s private group of advisers composed of officials and politicians from all parties.
After a government is installed, the king remains in close contact with it. The prime minister visits him each week and has a meeting with him called an audience to report on parliamentary business. If the king and prime minister are unable to meet in person, they speak by telephone. The king sees all Cabinet papers and minutes as well as the telegrams and dispatches of the Foreign Office. He has an office and a number of private secretaries who help him deal with government ministers, government appointments for which his approval is needed, and correspondence with Commonwealth governments. The same office arranges all his speeches, visits, and other engagements.
The Honours Lists.
Since the 1950’s, two Honours Lists have been published each year, one for New Year’s Day, and the other for Elizabeth II’s official birthday on June 2, the anniversary of her coronation. These lists contain all the titles, distinctions, and medals bestowed personally by the monarch at ceremonies called investitures at Buckingham Palace. These honors include knighthoods and peerages as well as more modest honors, such as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and various medals for long service or gallantry. Although the monarch personally chooses a few people to receive honors, most honors are awarded on the recommendation of government committees. By tradition, such distinctions are highly prized and felt to convey an important status. But the system of Honours Lists has also been criticized for its social bias.
Meeting the public.
Each summer, Queen Elizabeth II held royal garden parties in the grounds of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, her official residence in Scotland. Invitation to these occasions was mainly by the recommendation of committees and was regarded as an honor. Elizabeth’s other main public appearance every year was at the famous spectacle of trooping the colour on the Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, London.
The monarch and other members of the royal family pay hundreds of visits every year to all parts of the United Kingdom. They are invited to preside over important occasions, such as the opening of a new hospital or the launching of a ship. The king receives all ambassadors to the United Kingdom in audience, as well as visiting premiers or heads of state. With government approval, he makes state visits abroad.
Work of the royals.
The king regularly undertakes several engagements in one day. He also reads official documents and works on correspondence. Other members of the royal family also carry out official functions and visits. Many serve as patrons of numerous organizations, especially charities.
At home
Royal houses.
The monarch has seven royal residences. Six of them are in or near London: Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace, Hampton Court, and Windsor Castle. The seventh, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, is in Edinburgh. Elizabeth II used only three of these residences regularly—Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Holyroodhouse. The monarch also has two private residences—Sandringham House, in Norfolk, England; and Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Before Charles became king, his official London residence was Clarence House, near the Mall in London. Highgrove House, in Gloucestershire, was his main country residence. The home of Princess Anne is Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire.
Members of the royal family
World Book has separate biographies on Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip; Charles III; Diana, Princess of Wales; Camilla, Queen; Princess Anne; Prince Andrew; Prince Edward; Prince Harry; Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Prince William; and Catherine, Princess of Wales. This article provides information about other family members.
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
(1900-2002), was the wife of King George VI. She was born on Aug. 4, 1900. She came from a Scottish noble family, the Bowes-Lyons of Strathmore, in Angus. Her husband, Prince Albert, unexpectedly became king in 1937, following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. They reigned until 1952, and after George’s death she became the senior member of the royal family. Her special status throughout the United Kingdom was not a matter of her title, or of age alone. She was seen and loved as a link to a more glorious past, and to the years of World War II (1939-1945) when the monarchy became a symbol of the struggle for democracy and freedom. The Queen Mother died on March 30, 2002.
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
(1930-2002), was the younger sister of Elizabeth II and the aunt of Charles III. She was born on Aug. 21, 1930, in Scotland at Glamis Castle, ancestral home of the Bowes-Lyon family. In 1960, she married a well-known designer and photographer, Anthony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon). The two children of this marriage are David (Viscount Linley) and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. The couple divorced in 1978, and Margaret never remarried. In spite of ill health during the early 1990’s, she continued a career of public service. She died on Feb. 9, 2002.
The outer circle
of the royal family consists of descendants of three of George V’s other children, Henry (1900-1974), George (1902-1942) and Mary (1897-1965). Henry’s son Richard, Duke of Gloucester (1944-…), now stands closest in the line of accession among members of the royal family who are not direct descendants of George VI. He was trained as an architect and has performed a wide range of royal tasks.
Descendants of George VI’s brother George include Edward, Duke of Kent (1935-…), Prince Michael of Kent (1942-…), and Princess Alexandra (1936-…). They and their families lead much quieter lives than the monarch and monarch’s immediate relatives, but they are also prominent in public service.
A third branch of the family is descended from George V’s daughter, Mary. She married Henry Lascelles, the sixth Earl of Harewood, in 1922. Her son George Lascelles, the seventh Earl of Harewood (1923-2011), gained distinction as the managing director of English National Opera. His oldest son, David Lascelles, the eighth Earl of Harewood (1950-…), is a motion-picture and television producer.
History
The present royal family of the United Kingdom belongs to a ruling dynasty called the House of Windsor. But King Charles III can trace his descent through Queen Victoria back to King George III and beyond. George III was a member of the German House of Hanover, which ruled Britain after 1714 in succession to the monarchs of the House of Stuart. Queen Victoria, who came to the throne in 1837, changed the name of the dynasty to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the German royal family to which her husband Prince Albert belonged. In 1914, at the start of World War I, the United Kingdom went to war with Germany. In 1917, George V, Queen Victoria’s grandson, acknowledging the anti-German feeling of the time, wished to show his patriotic fellowship with his British subjects and so changed his family’s name to Windsor.
Crisis and war.
Following George V’s death in 1936, his son Edward VIII came to the throne. Edward’s wish to marry a divorced American woman, Wallis Warfield Simpson, sparked a political scandal and a constitutional crisis. The United Kingdom government refused to accept Wallis Simpson as queen, and after only 11 months, Edward VIII gave up the throne. 
Edward was succeeded in December 1936 by his younger brother King George VI. George’s reign was overshadowed by World War II. George was ill-prepared for kingship and did not enjoy good health. But he and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) stayed in London during the worst of the German air raids and visited bomb-damaged areas. 
The New Elizabethan Age.
King George VI and his queen helped restore the fortunes of the royal family, as did their daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth was crowned in June 1953, a year after her father’s death, at a magnificent ceremony in Westminster Abbey. This was the first coronation to be televised live, and it was witnessed by millions of people. It coincided with the return of prosperity and the rise of mass interest in television. At the time, Elizabeth’s reign was hailed as a “New Elizabethan Age” of achievement and glory comparable to that of Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603.
Around Elizabeth II was an inner circle of her immediate relatives. The senior member of this circle was her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Others included her children Prince Charles (later Charles III), Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.
Prince Charles’s wedding to Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in July 1981 was the most magnificent and most highly publicized event since the queen’s coronation in 1953. People saw it as reinforcing the continuity of the monarchy. The couple had two children, William (1982-…) and Henry, widely known as Harry (1984-…). Princess Diana was popular as Princess of Wales. However, a royal separation was announced in 1992, and the couple divorced in 1996. Retaining her place within the royal family, the Princess of Wales continued to campaign on humanitarian issues until her death in an automobile accident in August 1997. 
Princess Anne married Mark Phillips, an army captain, in 1973. They had two children, Peter (1977-…) and Zara (1981-…). The couple divorced in 1992. That same year, Princess Anne married Tim Laurence, an officer in the Royal Navy.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, married Sarah Ferguson in 1986 in a lavish wedding ceremony. The couple had two children, Beatrice and Eugenie. In 1992, the couple separated for a year. They formally confirmed their separation in 1993 and divorced in 1996. Andrew later fell from favor after reports revealed his association with a convicted American sex offender named Jeffrey Epstein. In 2022, the royal family stripped Andrew of his military titles and official connections with royal charities.
The royal family in the 2000’s.
In 2002, the General Synod, the ruling body of the Church of England, voted to allow divorced people to remarry in “exceptional circumstances.” This cleared the way for Charles to marry his long-time companion, Camilla Parker Bowles, in 2005. In 2011, Charles’s elder son, Prince William, married Catherine Middleton. Their son George, who is second in line to the throne, was born on July 22, 2013. Their daughter, Charlotte, born on May 2, 2015, is third in line to the throne. Another son, Louis, born on April 23, 2018, is fourth in line to the throne. Catherine, often called Kate, is Princess of Wales. She has become known for her work on behalf of a number of charities. 
In 2018, Charles’s younger son, Harry, who is fifth in line to the throne, married the American actress Meghan Markle. Meghan became Duchess of Sussex. The couple’s son, Archie, born on May 6, 2019, is sixth in line to the throne. In January 2020, Harry and Meghan drew media attention when they announced their intention “to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent.” The couple moved to the United States later that year. The couple’s daughter, Lilibet Diana, born on June 6, 2021, is seventh in line to the throne.
Queen Elizabeth II received several million pounds annually from the government in a payment once known as the Civil List. In 2012, a fund called the Sovereign Grant replaced the Civil List. The Sovereign Grant accounts for royal travel, maintenance of the royal palaces, official staff salaries, and other expenses. 
Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, 2022. Charles became King Charles III, and his wife, Camilla, became queen consort (wife of the king). The coronation of King Charles III took place on May 6, 2023, in Westminster Abbey, in London.
The future of the royal family.
Some people believe that the royal family should be abolished as an institution. They consider that there is no further need for a monarchy. Australia and Canada are the largest countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. Although the British monarch is officially their head of state, they have actively debated the idea of becoming republics and cutting their ties to the monarchy. However, the defenders of the monarchy continue to emphasize its unique historical character and its great popularity. They also stress the value of the work that the royal family regularly accomplishes for the government and the nation.
