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After an election that left no party with a clear majority, the final decision over who becomes Britain's next prime minister could lie in the hands of one woman who never votes: The queen.

As a head of state, Queen Elizabeth has numerous traditional roles when it comes to elections and government, yet these are usually no more than ceremonial.

The queen is the embodiment of Britain's constitutional monarchy and everything is done in her name. No laws can be passed nor parliaments opened or dissolved without her approval.

Such strict protocols bind all stages of the process to install a new prime minister -- often with a pomp and grandeur far removed from the boisterous world of British politics.

In her six decade reign, Queen Elizabeth has dealt with 11 prime ministers, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, who reputedly had a tense relationship with the monarch during the weekly audiences that are also a traditional necessity.

Typically, although it is her role to anoint prime ministers, the queen does not get involved in the political process, remaining above the fray.

After an election, the queen will wait to see if the current prime minister gets a majority or assembles a coalition before inviting them to form a government. Only if they admit defeat and resign can she start to look elsewhere.

As negotiations to form a coalition progress, the queen will be kept informed from a distance, avoiding any direct involvement in the decision.

A high level group including her private secretary and the Cabinet secretary will brief her, but she will not be drawn into controversy.

But, in the unlikely event that no decision can be reached among the parties over who should become prime minister the queen does have powers to intervene.

She can, in theory, call a fresh election or stop a new election being called if she thinks there is another solution.

The queen has faced election hiccups before. The last was in 1974 when after days of party negotiations, she invited Labour to form a minority government. That administration lasted less than a year before Britain was back at the polls.

It usually falls to royal advisers to ensure the rules work and that the queen is kept well away from the political wheeling and dealing.

However, as with Thursday's vote that saw the opposition Conservatives secure more seats than Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party but not enough to form a working government, the queen's position becomes more complicated.

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After one of the most fiercely fought and close general elections in years Britain is facing a hung parliament – meaning the Conservative party won the most seats, but not enough to give them a decisive victory over Labour's Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Britain hasn't had a "hung parliament" - one with no majority since 1974.

David Cameron's Conservative party came in first, with at least 304 seats in race to get 326 seats out of the 650-seat parliament. Brown's Labour party came in second with 257. The Liberal Democrats came third, with at least 57. About two dozen seats went to smaller parties, and a handful have yet to be declared.

It's similar to a George Bush-Al Gore scenario being played out across the pond - except instead of the election ending with electoral votes being decisive over the popular vote - it will end with some closed-door meetings and attempts to form alliances to create a majority in parliament.

So what happens now?

OK, deep breath. So there's a hung parliament, and nobody has enough votes to govern decisively. Now the deal-making part comes in– and it could take a while. The leader of the majority party traditionally gets the first chance to form the government and become prime minister.

But if no party has a majority (as is currently the case), the sitting prime minister - currently Gordon Brown - has the right to stay in office and try to win a confidence motion in parliament.

Conservative leader David Cameron, who didn't win that majority, but leads the party with the most votes declared his center-right party had earned the right to govern.

So Cameron has some choices he's going to have to make on the way to potentially becoming the U.K.'s next Prime Minister.

What could the outcome be?

There are several possible outcomes for how the U.K. parliament will shake out - depending on the different types of deals that are offered. CNN's Peter Wilkinson gives an in-depth look at many paths the talks can go down and several end result possibilities.

Cameron could try to form a minority government or launch a partnership in a coalition government.

•In a minority government a party tries to rule without a majority by winning support from other MPs on a vote-by-vote basis
•In a coalition government two or more parties agree to an alliance that sees them top the 326 majority to a shared agenda.
Where do they stand on forming a government now?

Here's the gist of where all three leaders stand in the early stages after the election:

•Conservative Party leader David Cameron floated the possibility of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats Friday. "The best thing for Britain now is a new government that works together in that national interest," he said. He emphasized areas where the two parties agree, including education reform and scrapping plans for national ID cards, while drawing red lines on defense and the economy.
•Prime Minister (for now) Gordon Brown is hoping at the end of the deal making he'll still have some power. Despite his party's overall loss he wants to stay in office and is willing to work with just about anyone. For now, he's still got the bed to sleep in at Downing Street until this is all hashed out. But if Labour and the Liberal Democrats can't reach a deal then Brown would be forced to leave the prime minister's residence immediately.
•Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, on the other hand could look to make some moves of his own. Earlier Friday he said the Conservative party "has the first right to seek to govern either on its own or by reaching out to other parties."
The upper hand lies with Cameron. But who will emerge as the leader and how the government will gel could take some time to sort out.

When will there be a defined government and what will it mean?

It depends how quickly deals are made. Our partners at Time.com take a look at why the struggle to form a government may just be in beginning stages – in other words, hang on to your seats.

Time.com interviewed some Brits to get a sense on how they'd view a hung parliament. Some thought it would mean a stalemate on issues at a time when the U.K. needs decisive decisions and others hope it can bring the U.K. together to solve their problems.

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