1.
Maseru
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Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District, located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho-South Africa border. Maseru is Lesothos capital city with a population of approximately 253,000, the city was established as a police camp and assigned as the capital after the country became a British protectorate in 1869. When the country achieved independence in 1966, Maseru retained its status as capital, the name of the city is a Sesotho word meaning red sandstones. Maseru was founded by the British as a police camp in 1869. Maseru is located at the edge of the conquered territories relinquished to the Orange Free State as part of the peace terms and it was located 24 kilometres west of Basotho King Moshoeshoe Is stronghold of Thaba Bosiu, the previous de facto capital. A bustling market town grew around the area. Maseru initially functioned as the administrative capital between 1869 and 1871, before administration of Basutoland was transferred to the Cape Colony. During their rule between 1871 and 1884, Basutoland was treated similarly to territories that had been forcefully annexed and this led to the Gun War in 1881 and the burning of many buildings in Maseru. In 1884, Basutoland was restored its status as a Crown colony, when Basutoland gained its independence and became the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966, Maseru remained the countrys capital. The annual population growth rates remained around 7% for several decades, after the 1998 parliamentary elections in Lesotho led to suspicions of vote fraud and a military intervention by South Africa, much of the city was damaged by riots and pillaging. The cost of repairing the damage done to the city was estimated at two billion rand, and after nearly a decade, the effects of the riots could still be seen within the city. Maseru is located in northwest Lesotho by the South African border, the two countries are connected by a border post at the Maseru Bridge, which crosses the river. On the South African side, Ladybrand is the town closest to Maseru, the city lies in a shallow valley at the foot of the Hlabeng-Sa-Likhama, foothills of the Maloti Mountains. The elevation of the city is listed as 1,600 metres above sea level, the city has an area of around 138 square kilometres. Maseru has a highland climate, categorised by warm, rainy summers and cool to chilly. The average mean temperature during summer — from December to March in the Southern Hemisphere — is 22 °C. During winter, between June and September, the temperature is 9 °C
2.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
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The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II
3.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive
4.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
5.
Cape Colony
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The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony, was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, the Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province, South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, from 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia. An expedition of the Dutch East India Company led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post, van Riebeecks objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former Scandinavian and German employees as well. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau. There was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent, known as Boers, they migrated westwards beyond the Cape Colonys initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers, Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the century the Capes population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic. The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, in 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London. The British started to settle the border of the colony
6.
Lesotho
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Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved, landlocked country in southern Africa completely surrounded by South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 in size and has a slightly over two million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru, previously known as Basutoland, Lesotho declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population lives below the poverty line of US$1.25 a day. The original inhabitants of the now known as Lesotho were the San people. Examples of their art can be found in the mountains throughout the area. The present Lesotho, then called Basutoland, emerged as a single polity under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822, Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Casalis, acting as translator and providing advice on foreign affairs, helped to set up diplomatic channels and acquire guns for use against the encroaching Europeans and the Griqua people. Trekboers from the Cape Colony showed up on the borders of Basutoland and claimed land rights, beginning with Jan de Winnaar. As more Boers were moving into the area tried to colonise the land between the two rivers, even north of the Caledon, claiming that it had been abandoned by the Sotho people. Moshoeshoe subsequently signed a treaty with the British Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Thomas Napier and these outraged Boers were suppressed in a brief skirmish in 1848. In 1851 a British force was defeated by the Basotho army at Kolonyama, after repelling another British attack in 1852, Moshoeshoe sent an appeal to the British commander that settled the dispute diplomatically, then defeated the Batlokoa in 1853. In 1854 the British pulled out of the region, and in 1858 Moshoeshoe fought a series of wars with the Boers in the Free State–Basotho War, the last war in 1867 ended when Moshoeshoe appealed to Queen Victoria, who agreed to make Basutoland a British protectorate in 1868. Moshoeshoe died on 11 March 1870, marking the end of the traditional era and he was buried at Thaba Bosiu. In the early years of British rule between 1871 and 1884, Basutoland was treated similarly to territories that had been forcefully annexed. This led to the Gun War in 1881, Basutoland gained its independence from Britain and became the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966. In January 1970, the ruling Basotho National Party lost the first post-independence general elections, Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan refused to cede power to the Basotho Congress Party, declared himself Tona Kholo, and imprisoned the BCP leadership
7.
Philip Edmond Wodehouse
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Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse GCSI KCB was a British colonial administrator. Wodehouse was the eldest child of Edmond Wodehouse and his wife, Wodehouse entered the Ceylon Civil Service at an early age and later served as superintendent of British Honduras from 1851 to 1854. He then served as Governor of British Guiana from 1854 to 1861, in 1861 he was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony and British High Commissioner for Southern Africa, taking over from Sir George Grey who had been recalled for disobeying Imperial orders. His High Commission was also overshadowed, throughout its duration, by a movement in the Cape for a degree of independence under a system of Responsible Government. The local Cape Parliament was elected by a system of multi-racial franchise, the movement for responsible government had immense local popularity, fueled by what was perceived to be the ineptitude of British imperial rule. Increasingly despotic, he in turn faced increasingly fierce opposition, led by local leader John Molteno, until he was recalled in 1870 and he was then Governor of Bombay from 1872 to 1877, when he retired from public life. He was made a CB in 1860, a KCB in 1862, Wodehouse married Katherine Mary, daughter of F. J. Templer, in 1833. They had one child, Edmond Wodehouse, who became Member of Parliament for Bath, Wodehouse died in October 1887, aged 76. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery and this suggestion, however, dates from 1845 when Sir Peregrine Maitland governed the cape, well before the 1861 governorship of Wodehouse. Wodehouse presided over the Convention of Aliwal-North which formally established the boundaries of Basotholand, dictionary of National Biography,1901 supplement. London, Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 516–517, leigh Rayments Peerage Pages Lundy, Darryl
8.
Secretary of State for the Colonies
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The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdoms various colonial dependencies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies, joint responsibility continued under the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but led to a diminution of the boards status and it became an adjunct to the new Secretarys Department. Following this, colonial duties given to the Home Secretary, then Lord Sydney, following the Treaty of Paris 1783, a new board, named the Committee of Council on Trade and Plantations was established under William Pitt the Younger, by an Order in Council in 1784. In the latter part of the century the United Kingdom also gained control over a number of territories with the status of protectorate. The ministerial responsibility for these territories was initially held by the Foreign Secretary, however, by the early years of the twentieth century the responsibility for each of these territories had been transferred to the Colonial Secretary as well. The League of Nations mandated territories acquired as a result of the Treaty of Versailles became a responsibility of the Colonial Office in the aftermath of the First World War. In 1925 part of the Colonial Office was separated out as the Dominions Office, the new office was responsible for dealing with the Dominions together with a small number of other territories. In the twenty years following the end of the Second World War, in 1968 the Commonwealth Office was subsumed into the Foreign Office, which was renamed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Colonial Secretary never had responsibility for the provinces and princely states of India, from 1768 until 1966 the Secretary of State was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and latterly by a Minister of State
9.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
10.
Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope
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It consisted of the House of Assembly and the legislative council. Prior to Responsible Government, the British government granted the Cape Colony a rudimentary and this political elite successfully began the controversial drive for Cape independence which, unusually, was attained in the end through gradual evolution, rather than sudden revolution. The Queen granted the Cape its first Parliament in 1853, however, the parliament was weak and executive power remained firmly in the hands of the Governor who was appointed from London. The British Governor opened this first parliament at his residence, the Tuynhuys, the old Legislative Council was housed at the nearby Old Supreme Court building. A faction of the Capes powerful local leaders, under the leadership of John Molteno and this was attained in 1872, bringing all branches of the Capes government under local control and making the Executive directly responsible to Parliament and the electorate for the first time. There followed a boom period in the history of the Cape, with the economy surging. The new constitution held the non-racial nature of its system as one of its core values. Opportunistic politicians soon followed, to campaign for Black African voters, the new government based itself in the halls of the Masonic Lodge where the previous parliaments had sat. This relatively humble building was seen as central and close to the Legislative Council building. The large gardens of the Lodge soon became a venue for the public, with concerts, theatre. The Parliamentary hall itself was open to members of the public, also explicitly irrespective of class or colour, the operating language of the parliament in the early years of Responsible Government was English, though Afrikaans was often spoken informally. Dutch was added by parliamentary act in 1882, by MP Onze Jan Hofmeyr with the support of Saul Solomon. From the beginning of Responsible Government, there were increasingly vocal complaints from members of parliament about the appearance of their venue. MPs increasingly complained that the Parliament would not attract sufficient respect from the public and strangers and he was over-ruled by the legislature however, and the Commissioner of Public Works, Charles Abercrombie Smith, ordered a select committee to receive designs. The committee selected the proposal of the renowned architect Charles Freeman. Sites that were mooted for the new building included Greenmarket Square, Caledon Square and the top of Government Avenue, Freeman was made resident architect and construction began on 12 May 1875, with Governor Henry Barkly laying the cornerstone. Almost immediately it was discovered that Freemans plans were faulty, Freeman was fired for incompetence and the Public Works Commission was re-structured. There was initially some discussion in parliament about abandoning the half-finished building, however, the government ordered the project completed, even though the budget was now calculated to be many times the original sum
11.
Royal assent
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Royal assent is the method by which a countrys constitutional monarch formally approves an act of that nations parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies, however, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the Governor-General merely signs the bill, in Canada, the Governor-General may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill. Before the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541 became law, the last time royal assent was given by the sovereign in person was during the rule of Queen Victoria at a prorogation on the 12th of August 1854. The Act was repealed and replaced by the Royal Assent Act of 1967, Royal assent is the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law. -the sovereign may delay the bills assent through the use of his or her powers in near-revolutionary situations. -the sovereign may refuse royal assent on the advice of his or her ministers, under modern constitutional conventions, the sovereign acts on the advice of his or her ministers. Since these ministers most often maintain the support of parliament and are the ones who obtain the passage of bills, it is highly improbable that they would advise the sovereign to withhold assent. Hence, in practice, royal assent is always granted. The Monarch does not have the power to withhold a Bill from assenting, the last bill that was refused assent by the sovereign was the Scottish Militia Bill during Queen Annes reign in 1708. The so-called Model Parliament included bishops, abbots, earls, barons, in 1265, the Earl of Leicester irregularly called a full parliament without royal authorization. The body eventually came to be divided into two branches, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons formed the House of Lords, while the shire, the King would seek the advice and consent of both houses before making any law. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 provide a second potential preamble if the House of Lords were to be excluded from the process, the power of parliament to pass bills was often thwarted by monarchs. Charles I dissolved parliament in 1629, after it passed motions critical of, during the eleven years of personal rule that followed, Charles performed legally dubious actions, such as raising taxes without parliaments approval. After the English Civil War, it was accepted that parliament should be summoned to meet regularly, the last Stuart monarch, Anne, similarly withheld on 11 March 1707, on the advice of her ministers, her assent from a bill for the settling of Militia in Scotland. No monarch has since withheld royal assent on a passed by the British parliament. During the rule of the succeeding Hanoverian dynasty, power was gradually exercised more by parliament, the first Hanoverian monarch, George I, relied on his ministers to a greater extent than did previous monarchs. However, George IV reluctantly granted his assent upon the advice of his ministers, thus, as the concept of ministerial responsibility has evolved, the power to withhold royal assent has fallen into disuse, both in the United Kingdom and in the other Commonwealth realms
12.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Basutoland". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
