Is the King above the law?

Kids Law

In May 2023, King Charles III was crowned as the new monarch for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Part of his role, every year, the monarch is invited to open the new parliamentary session - and, this November, King Charles III is opening Parliament for the first time as King. Alma-Constance and Lucinda talk to Sir John Baker, an English legal historian who was the Downing professor of the laws of England at the University of Cambridge and he told us about the King’s role in making and upholding laws and the constitutional monarchy.

We discuss:

· what the Crown, Monarch, and sovereign mean

· whether the King has any powers

· if a child can be a monarch

· the role of the King in the legal justice system

· what would happen if the King broke the law

When John was 10 years old, he liked playing with friends and studying insects in the garden. His most vivid early memory was watching the coronation of Elizabeth II when he was nine on television, which was a very new technology.

References and Resources

Sir John Baker

English Legal History and its Sources by Sir john Baker

The Crown and the Constitution

Learning Parliament UK

The Royal Family

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