But she isn't just a figurehead. The Prime Minister can to take the office without her permission and cannot quit without her permission. That's an expression of absolutist power. The Queen's ancestors are worshipped; if she had little power, she wouldn't be worshipped. Her funeral wouldn't have lasted more than a week if she wasn't descended from the family of 1870, 1770. The British would have cancelled the monarchy if she was just a worthless figurehead. The reverence she enjoys is the issue, the position.