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by hansjorg 4233 days ago
Interestingly, the UK cabinet and parliament had no official hand in the actual decision to expel.

When the US requested the forced expulsion of the Chagossians, the Queen could act unilaterally since she is still the direct ruler of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
1 comments
jlangenauer 4233 days ago
I would be extremely shocked if this was actually the case. Do you have any source for this claim?
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hansjorg 4233 days ago
I might me misremembering it, but I think this was told in the documentary Stealing a Nation [1].

According to Wikipedia, there is a commissioner with the Foreign Office that acts as administrator, but that commissioner is directly appointed by the Queen [2].

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealing_a_Nation

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_British_India...

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M2Ys4U 4233 days ago
>directly appointed by the Queen

While this may be technically true, the monarch's powers (the royal prerogatives[0]) are almost exclusively exercised on the advice of the prime minister/cabinet.

In other words, while the power officially rests with the Queen, the UK government is the one to wield it in practice.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative

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