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Queen Elizabeth II, 95, is a constitutional monarch and while she has weekly meetings with Britain's Prime Minister, her political powers are limited. Nonetheless, there are calls for a

process known as the Queen's Consent to be abolished and an ongoing investigation by the Guardian aims to expose what it deems to be a "secretive procedure" that it claims

allows the Royal Family more political clout than it would seem. WHAT IS THE QUEEN'S CONSENT? The Queen's Assent and the Queen's Consent are two separate conventions both

linked to the Queen's dealings with Parliament. While the Queen's Assent is the process by which the Queen signs off on Parliamentary bills before they are transformed into law,

thew Queen's Consent is effectively when the Queen grants "permission" to parliament to debate a bill before it becomes law. A description of the Queen's constitutional

powers on the Royal Family's website claims they are "purely formal". READ MORE: PALACE HIT BACKS AT RACISM ALLEGATIONS OVER HISTORIC PRACTICES Law and Policy commentator

David Allen Green discusses the Queen's Consent on his blog following the publication of the Guardian article mentioned above. In it, he describes the convention as a "generally

unknown feature of the constitution of the United Kingdom". He adds: "To the extent that the Queen’s Consent has any formal basis at all, it is entirely based on parliamentary

procedure. "And this means that it would be easy to abolish, for what is giveth by parliamentary procedure can be be taketh away by parliamentary procedure. "No law would need to

be passed at all. "The queen would not need to be consulted, either by the Queen’s Consent or otherwise." Explaining the arguments for why the Queen's Consent should be

abolished, Mr Allen Green adds: "In practice, and given the lack of evidence of the consent being formally withheld, what this means is that the crown is given the right and opportunity

to shape prospective legislation – or in the case today disclosed by the Guardian – to make alternative arrangements before the legislation passes. "The question is not about what

happens if consent is not given, but what things need to change for the necessary consent to be given."