UK votes for Boris Johnson, but who did the Queen vote for? Can she?

As the United Kingdom prepares to welcome a Conservative majority parliament, the Internet is curious to know about one person's vote -- Queen Elizabeth II. 

While many believe the Queen and the royal family aren't allowed to vote, the British monarch like everyone else does have the right to cast a ballot in general elections. The Queen is entitled under the British law to vote in the general election but chooses to abstain with respect to royal traditions. 

"By convention the Queen doesn't vote, rather than because of a legal impediment," as explained by Electoral Commission spokesperson while speaking to a local newspaper. 

'Above politics'

Sarah Gristwood, author and royal historian, elaborated that it's consistently been a policy of Queen Elizabeth II, since her early days as head of state, to stay completely above politics.

Following the monarch's example, no member of the royal family steps out to vote, maintaining the status quo. 

"It follows on from a major reinvention of the monarchy following the end of World War One and the establishment of the House of Windsor," Gristwood added in her comment to the newspaper. 

In fact, the Queen has an even more important role to play after the votes are counted. After the results are declared, the leader of the winning party travels to Buckingham Palace where, in a closed-door meeting, the Queen asks them to form a government in her name. 

The formal ceremony has been a quick affair with no pomp and show since the Brexit vote. In 2017, the Queen arrived in a car -- instead of her guiled carriage -- at the Parliament. The royal crown was the only grandeur of the proceedings -- travelling in its own car to Parliament from the Tower of London, where it is kept as part of the Crown Jewels collection.  

Queen Elizabeth II 

Born as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952 after her father King George VI's death. She's been the most popular of monarchs around the world -- longest-lived and longest-reigning, becoming the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee. She will be acceded by her first son Charles, Prince of Wales.