From the Centre for Citizenship
Members of Parliament are required to swear an oath of loyalty to the queen, not to the people who elected them and not to a constitution. Those who have refused have been barred from taking their seats in the legislature. Bishops of the Church of England also swear their allegiance to the monarch, rather than to their god or their church. Police officers and soldiers likewise swear loyalty to the Queen, not to the government or their country.
The monarch has the power to:
Choose the Prime Minister.
Dismiss ministers and governments.
Dissolve Parliament.
Refuse to agree to legislation passed by Parliament.
Dismiss the governments of other countries of which she is monarch.
Pardon convicted criminals.
Declare a state of emergency.
Issue proclamations.
Command the army and raise a personal militia.
The monarch is supposed to be impartial and to do as the government wishes. Walter Bagehot, the nineteenth century economist and author of the influential text on Britain’s unwritten constitution, The English Constitution, declared that the functions of the monarch were to be consulted, to encourage and to warn the government.
However, the access to information about government business that is denied to the average citizen, and a continuity in office while the elected representatives of the people come and go, certainly provide the potential for a very unfair influence.
The monarch is able to read a wide range of confidential government documents that are not in the public domain until many years later. These include intelligence service reports that are not shown to other ministers of the government. She or he has frequent visits from the Prime Minister and is consulted on major policy changes and other matters by request.
The right the monarch has to declare a state of emergency when there is civil disorder or she believes that the government is acting unconstitutionally is potentially a very powerful one. Through the un-elected privy council she could issue proclamations which would not be subject to parliamentary approval and which would be enforced by the police and magistrates.