Страница: 56/74
Although The Queen's estate will be subject to Inheritance Tax, bequests from Sovereign to Sovereign are exempt. This is because constitutional impartiality requires an appropriate degree of financial independence for the Sovereign and because the Sovereign is unable to generate significant new wealth through earnings or business activities. Also, the Sovereign cannot retire and so cannot mitigate Inheritance Tax by passing on assets at an early stage to his or her successor.
As a Crown body, the Duchy of Cornwall is tax exempt, but since 1969 The Prince of Wales has made voluntary contributions to the Exchequer. As from 1993, The Prince's income from the Duchy has been fully subject to tax on a voluntary basis. He has always paid tax, including income tax, in all other respects.
ROYAL ASSETS
The Queen does not 'own' the Royal Palaces, art treasures from the Royal Collection, jewellery heirlooms and the Crown Jewels, all of which are held by Her Majesty as Sovereign and not as an individual. They must be passed on to The Queen's successor in due course. The Queen and some members of the Royal Family past and present have made private collections - such as the stamp collection begun by George V. This is separate to the Royal Collection, although exhibitions and loans of stamps are sometimes made.
SYMBOLS
Many of the most familiar objects and events in national life incorporate Royal symbols or represent the Monarchy in some way. Flags, coats of arms, the crowns and treasures used at coronations and some ceremonies, stamps, coins and the singing of the national anthem have strong associations with the Monarchy and play a significant part in our daily existence. Other objects - such as the Great Seal of the Realm - may be less familiar to the general public but still have a powerful symbolic role.
NATIONAL ANTHEM
'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be referred to as the National Anthem from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century.
In September 1745 the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh. In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged 'God Save The King' for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly thereafter. This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting the Monarch with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established.
There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used. The words used are those sung in 1745, substituting 'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung, as follows: God save our gracious Queen! Long live our noble Queen! God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the Queen.
An additional verse is occasionally sung:
Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour, Long may she reign. May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause, To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen.
The British tune has been used in other countries - as European visitors to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country possessing such a recognised musical symbol - including Germany, Russia, Switzerland and America (where use of the tune continued after independence). Some 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.
Реферат опубликован: 1/08/2006