The fount of all modern knowledge – Google – is asked hundreds of thousands of questions, on a multitude of topics, from people around the world every single day. It will be of little or no surprise to hear that a lot of these questions concern the British Royal Family.
Common themes arise, but one unusual question is asked more often than most – would Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ever go to jail if she committed a crime?
The answer is not as straightforward as you might initially think! Google itself has difficulty answering as the question deals in hypotheticals, which makes a decisive answer a virtual impossibility for the intricate pattern of coding behind the search engine’s innocuous home page. Experts are also hard pressed to say one way or another what would happen, as there is simply no precedent in modern history.
There is, however, some solid data to draw from and the facts are this: The Queen is the head of the police services, the courts and the prisons which means it would take exceptional circumstances to see Her Majesty arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned. Specifically:
- Law enforcement officials would have a difficult time slapping handcuffs on the monarch considering they have sworn an oath that they will ‘well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable.’
- Courts would have a difficult time prosecuting as The Queen is the head of the criminal justice system and it would, quite literally, be a case of ‘The Queen versus The Queen’ in a court of law.
- Prison officials would be hard pressed to convincingly prove that an incarcerated monarch would be serving time ‘at Her Majesty’s Pleasure’ as all other prisoners are said to be.
So where does that leave us? If minor, the crime may well go unpunished. If major, The Queen would possibly be forced to abdicate and step down from the throne – an eventuality almost impossible to consider or picture given her decades of dedicated service and her positive, uplifting disposition which has made her beloved by millions!
If an abdication were to occur, The Queen would, as a non-reigning member of the royal family, be tried for her crime. Because though the rules are murky for a crime committed by the monarch, the rest of the royal family can face arrest, just like the rest of us.
At a time when the Queen, according to her daughter is still “recovering from a heavy cold,” this is one of the most scurrilous rumor mongering posts Royal Central has ever done. Royal Central at the onset of her illness promised timely updates of her health. Rumors are rife, with some reporting from time-to-time, that the Queen had died. Yesterday on Google there was a rumor as bad, that since her Christmas appearance, the Queen was placed under house arrest by members of her family. Until wise heads cease this rumor mongering, I can only say that it is not the 116 million children that Royal Central yesterday reported that her grandchildren want treated for possible mental health issues; but, all the adults bar some in Britain (many in high positions), that are nuts. God bless the Queen, who has to deal with such lunacy.
I would like to point out that the headline is outrageous. you should have written “Why Her Majesty is immune to charges”
If people who quietly take others’ lives do not get charged, why should our Queen be subject to this absurd press coverage?! Some of us want to live above the Crown and take lives on a whim from people who work harder than they do, evade the law and live large on the backs of the rest of society- who is asking them if they should fear reprisal!? The Windsors should never have to deal with this rubbish! They are not there to save others from their own stupidity! It ought to go without saying she deserves a little bit of credit after an entire lifetime of devotion to her subjects! She has never enjoyed a true vacation in all her years! Enough with the rogue employees who try to usurp her position for they do not hold a candle to Her Majesty!
In fact once explained to me the Queen cannot break the law, as it is HER LAW. There are specifics true, but they ae ancient and very old laws, which many would not even know let alone act on.
head of the Church, head of the laws of the land, it woukld take a revolution for anything to happen to the Queen, the other members of the family are however not immune.
While we are dealing with hypotheticals, if the UK were conquered by a foreign power ruled by a dictator or an absolute monarch (i.e., as opposed to a rule of law), it is possible that such foreign power could imprison the Queen.
But they’d have to get past Her Majesty’s finest soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen and officers first.
…and sharp toothed corgies.
Let’s talk about standards.