Wikipedia:Featured article review/Monarchy of the United Kingdom/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article review. Please do not modify it. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page or at Wikipedia talk:Featured article review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was kept by User:Marskell 07:59, 15 October 2008 [1].

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Monarchy of the United Kingdom

Notified Wikiproject Commonwealth, UK Wikipedians' notice board, and DrKiernan

This, the second to last unreviewed Emsworth classic, has done a good job keeping up with the inline citations since they were implemented, but still has big paragraphs completely unreferenced, and should not be too difficult to get up to current, fully referenced standards. Judgesurreal777 (talk) 01:56, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Please notify PeterSymonds, who seriously upgraded the citations last April. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:06, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

I would, but he has retired, or taken a break from editing for a while, and when I tried to leave him a message, it said his talk page could only be edited by administrators. So if you want to tell him, feel free Sandy :) Judgesurreal777 (talk) 02:31, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

oh, that's not good news :-( SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:42, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

I corrected your notifications. When notifying, please use the subst FAR message (in this case, {{subst:FARMessage|Monarchy of the United Kingdom}}) so that editors who come straight to this page without seeing the FAR instructions will understand the process. Also, I corrected your links at the top of this FAR; giving a complete link to the notification page makes it easier for others to check that notifications are done correctly. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:48, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

I will do so in the future, thanks Sandy. Judgesurreal777 (talk) 22:34, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

I've added a notification to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Royalty. Iain99^{Balderdash and piffle} 16:59, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Lead

I suggest that the lead and first section become something like:

The monarchy of the United Kingdom (commonly referred to as the British monarchy) is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories.

The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours. Though the ultimate executive authority over the government of the United Kingdom is still by and through the monarch's royal prerogative, in practice these powers are only used according to laws enacted in Parliament or within the constraints of convention and precedent. On the whole, the Queen must follow the advice of government ministers.

The British monarchy can trace its origins back to the kings of the Angles and the early Scottish kings. By the year 1000, the kingdoms of England and Scotland had resolved from the petty kingdoms of early medieval Britain. The last Anglo-Saxon monarch (Harold II) was defeated and killed in the Norman invasion of 1066 and the English monarchy passed to the Norman conquerors. In the thirteenth century, the principality of Wales was absorbed by England, and the Magna Carta began the process of reducing the political powers of the monarch. From 1603, when the Scottish king James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both kingdoms were ruled by a single monarch. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England that followed the War of the Three Kingdoms. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain and, in 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland joined to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the world at its greatest extent in 1921. In 1922, most of Ireland seceded from the Union as the Irish Free State, but in law the monarch remained sovereign there until 1949. After World War II, the declaration of Indian independence effectively brought the British Empire to an end. George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of the independent countries comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. In 1931, the unitary British monarchy throughout the empire was split into legally distinct crowns for each of the Commonwealth realms. At present, 15 other independent Commonwealth countries are in personal union with the United Kingdom, sharing the same monarch.

I shall not implement until comments are made. Though I would say if these or like changes are not implemented, and the article remains as is, I would not support this article's FA status. DrKiernan (talk) 11:16, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

I like that Doc. I think it gives a much better historical overview than the current lead. However, primogeniture should be mentioned in the first two sentences. (Judging from our page, "cognatic primogeniture" is the precise term.) Marskell (talk) 13:22, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm not keen. What with the Catholic business and abdications, succession is determined by statute in addition to descent and gender. Can you suggest some form of words for what you were thinking of? DrKiernan (talk) 14:36, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Slightly tongue in cheek, but can I assume from the above that Wales is now a republic as it is not mentioned in this history? More seriously, maybe insert after "Norman conquerors" "Wales was incorporated by conquest in the 13th C" or similar? --Snowded TALK 13:31, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for spotting that omission. I've made an amendment but it conflates two separate issues so may need more work. DrKiernan (talk) 14:36, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

I like the change and I think the conflation maybe appropriate. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was related to John and allied to Simon de Montfort and his failure to support de Montfort against Edward at Evesham is one of the turning points in British History. --Snowded TALK 14:49, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Given that people have had the weekend to look and comment on the lead, without dissent, I'll implement it now. DrKiernan (talk) 12:03, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Length

It's too long. How about breaking off "History" as History of the British monarchy? DrKiernan (talk) 13:01, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Hello, I'm back. I will join DrKiernan in the efforts to maintain this article. I was very short of references in April, and did what I can based on the sources I got hold of. I'm at university now, so the resources available to me have vastly increased. When I confirm my registration next week I'll have access to hundreds of sources, making things a lot easier. :) PeterSymonds (talk) 20:11, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

This is due to be moved down but I'll leave it up in review for a while. Marskell (talk) 10:47, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

I've got Fraser and Cannon; so hopefully I'll be able to add refs to the massive history section on Monday morning. DrKiernan (talk) 13:00, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Close. I'm astonished at how painless rewriting this article was. I was expecting huge rows about Commonwealth realms, personal unions, use of the word "British", republican movements, Ireland, popularity, Camilla and Charles, and all the rest of it. Let's close this FAR before an argument does blow up. DrKiernan (talk) 09:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough. Marskell (talk) 07:54, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.