A principle of the UK constitution is parliamentary sovereignty, which means that Parliament has supreme legal authority. For a while, England didn't even have a monarch; it had a Protectorate under Cromwell, but that fell apart when Cromwell died. Under the act, any royal who marries a Roman Catholic will be disqualified to inherit the throne. In Parliament an Exclusion Bill was proposed that would prevent James, Duke of York or any other Catholic successors from the throne. Sir Robert Walpole held this post and is considered to be Englands first Prime Minister. Why did they break a stick at king Georges funeral? Does British royalty have any power? My name is William I, but you probably know me better as William the Conqueror because I conquered Britain in 1066 C.E. Indeed, the last time a monarch refused assent was in 1707 when Queen Anne vetoed the Scottish Militia Bill. The War of the Roses, which lasted from 1455-1487, pitted the Lancasters, symbolized by a red rose, against the York family, represented by a white rose. George III was born in 1760 and died in 1827. However, the practical power of this is tempered by the strong convention that it will not be exercised. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: Catholic vs. Anglican. James II went to Ireland to raise support. In Ireland, Catholic highway men and robbers were known as Tories. The collapse of British imperial power - all but complete by the mid-1960s - can be traced directly to the impact of World War Two. The United Kingdom as a whole is a constitutional monarchy. It only sat for one week before Charles II dissolved it. Parliament had to be called at least once every three years. The election of Members of Parliament should be free. They were also supporters of the Church of England. Why did England not have an absolute monarchy? But thereafter, the formation of the republican commonwealth in 1649 broke this tradition. I received my bachelor's degree in history from George Washington University and later earned a master's degree in the same subject from Uppsala University in Sweden. The 1701 Act of Settlement placed further restrictions on the monarchy. During the Stuart family's era, Parliament and the Puritans rebelled, and for a while, Britain didn't even have a monarch.