Editing Monarchy of the United Kingdom (section)

====Summons, prorogation and dissolution of Parliament====
The sovereign has the power to summon, [[legislative session#Procedure in Commonwealth realms|prorogue]] and dissolve Parliament. Each parliamentary session begins with the sovereign's summons. The new parliamentary session is marked by the [[State Opening of Parliament]], during which the monarch reads the [[speech from the throne]] in the chamber of the House of Lords, outlining the Government's legislative agenda.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Opening of Parliament |url=https://www.parliament.uk/stateopening/ |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=UK Parliament |archive-date=23 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223071627/https://www.parliament.uk/stateopening/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Prorogation usually occurs about one year after a session begins, and formally concludes the session.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prorogation |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occasions/prorogation/ |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=UK Parliament |archive-date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617062258/https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occasions/prorogation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Dissolution ends a parliamentary term, and is followed by a general election for all seats in the House of Commons. If not dissolved sooner, Parliaments are automatically dissolved after five years.

The [[Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011]] temporarily removed the sovereign's authority to dissolve Parliament; however, this power was restored by the [[Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022]]. The sovereign's power of [[Prorogation in the United Kingdom|prorogation]] was unaffected, which is a regular [[Legislative session#United Kingdom|feature of the parliamentary calendar]].

In 1950 the [[Private Secretary to the Sovereign|Monarch's Private Secretary]] [[Alan Lascelles|Sir Alan "Tommy" Lascelles]], writing pseudonymously to ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper, asserted a constitutional convention: according to the [[Lascelles Principles]], if a minority government asked to dissolve Parliament to call an early election to strengthen its position, the monarch could refuse and would do so under three conditions. When Harold Wilson requested a dissolution late in 1974, [[Queen Elizabeth II]] granted his request as Heath had already failed to form a coalition. The [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|resulting general election]] gave Wilson a small majority.<ref>{{Citation |title=Results and analysis: General election, 10 October 1974 |date=11 March 2008 |url=http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge74b/results.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014211057/https://www.politicsresources.net/ |publisher=Political Science Resources |access-date=10 October 2008 |archive-date=14 October 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The monarch could in theory unilaterally dismiss the prime minister, but in practice, the prime minister's term nowadays comes to an end only by electoral defeat, death, or resignation.