Seven years and one deportation later, I’ve finally been granted British citizenship. The last step in the process was a very civilized “citizenship ceremony” where they served us tea and Victoria sponge cake, and we took an oath to, “…be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second…give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and…uphold its democratic values.”
This reminded me of my favorite section of the book that the Citizenship test is based on, the “How Britain is Governed” chapter. Here are some gems:
“The United Kingdom constitution is an unwritten constitution.”
“Britain has a constitutional monarchy.”
“The Queen is Head of State of the United Kindgom.”
“There would be a constitutional crisis if the monarch ever spoke out publicly either for or against government policy.”
So that’s why the Queen rarely speaks. Because the unwritten constitution would be in crisis if the Head of State expressed her opinion! Reminds me of the people encouraging Americans to forfeit their civil liberties and right to privacy in order to preserve their freedoms.