Union and asymmetric royal power

The later Anglo-Scottish union illustrates how different constitutional bargains could destabilize a shared monarchy. Scotland's financial problems and the different powers of its kings form part of the background to formal union in this comparison. Monarchs possessed greater practical power in England and therefore found governing there less continuously contested than governing Scotland. That asymmetry encouraged a shared crown to concentrate attention on England, where royal initiatives were easier to pursue. A common monarch did not by itself create an evenly integrated British state.