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A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. In each state she acts as the monarch of that state and is titled accordingly. For example, in Australia she is known as "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia" or simply, the Queen of Australia. (See List of Titles and Honours of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom)
Outside the United Kingdom, the Queen, on the advice of the prime minister of each state, appoints a Governor-General to act as her vice-regal representative during her absence. The Governor-General in turn exercises almost all the powers of the constitutional monarch with mostly symbolic, figurehead duties, but also reserve powers, called Royal Prerogative.
In countries with federal systems like Canada and Australia, the Queen is also represented by a Governor in each of the states of Australia and by a Lieutenant Governor in each of the provinces of Canada.
Fourteen of the Realms are former British self-governing colonies (including the Dominions) that became independent countries either after the ratification of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the collapse of the Federation of the West Indies in 1961, or at later dates, the latest being Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1983. The two exceptions are Papua New Guinea which was administered by Australia as an international trusteeship before independence in 1975 and the United Kingdom itself.
Countries currently Commonwealth Realms
The Commonwealth Realms are each members of, but should be distinguished from, the Commonwealth of Nations, which is an organisation of mostly former British colonies, the majority of whom do not have the Queen as their head of state.
Commonwealth Realms are:
- Antigua and Barbuda, through independence in 1981
- Australia, through adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942 (retroactive to 1939)
- The Bahamas, through independence in 1973
- Barbados, through independence in 1966
- Belize, through independence in 1981
- Canada, through the Statute of Westminster in 1931
- Grenada, through independence in 1974
- Jamaica, through independence in 1962
- New Zealand, through adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1947
- Papua New Guinea, through independence in 1975
- Saint Kitts and Nevis, through independence in 1983
- Saint Lucia, through independence in 1979
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, through independence in 1979
- The Solomon Islands, through independence in 1978
- Tuvalu, through independence in 1978
- The United Kingdom is also a Commonwealth realm.
Additionally, under the 1981 Constitution, the Queen in right of New Zealand is head of state in the Cook Islands, but any change in the succession made by New Zealand would have no effect in the Cook Islands unless separately ratified there.
Flags of the Queen in Commonwealth Realms
See Royal Standard for the different standards used by the Queen
The Personal Flag of Queen Elizabeth II
In her capacity as Queen of different Commonwealth Realms, the Queen uses her royal standard for that particular realm, or her personal flag as Head of the Commonwealth, which is also used when visiting Commonwealth countries where she is not recognised as Head of State. The British Royal Standard is therefore used exclusively in the United Kingdom. The Queen additionally has distinctive flags for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados. Each is a banner of the country's coat of arms, with the royal cypher in the centre, with the letter 'E' for 'Elizabeth'. The Queen formerly had flags for Sierra Leone, Malta, and Trinidad and Tobago, but when these countries became republics, they became obsolete.
Flags of Governors-General
Similarly, the Governor-General has his or her own flag featuring a lion passant (from the crest which sits atop the Royal Arms for England) and a royal crown, with the name of the country written in capitals on a scroll underneath. The Governor General of Canada has a distinctive design, in which the lion is bearing a maple leaf.
Constitutional implications
Sovereignty of the Realms
The Commonwealth realms are sovereign states and Britain no longer holds any legislative power over them, although some countries continue to use the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as part of their judiciary.
Because they share the same head of state, the Commonwealth realms are in a personal union relationship. This relationship is voluntary and symmetric. In each realm the Queen has a distinct legal personality and acts on the advice only of the government of that country. The Monarchy is thus no longer an exclusively British institution, although it may often be called British for historical reasons and for convenience. Each realm determines its own titles and styles of the monarch and any female consort.
As a consequence of this relationship, any alterations to the line of succession to the throne must be approved by the parliaments of all the realms in order to guarantee continuity of a single Monarch. For example, there have been suggestions of removing the religious requirements from the Act of Settlement, which currently defines the succession. In practice, since each realm is a sovereign state, this requires the voluntary cooperation of all 16 of the realms. Alternatively, a realm could choose to end its participation in the shared monarchy.
Historical development
Before 1926, the monarch of the United Kingdom had nominally ruled the dominions as a single imperial domain, with a governor-general representing the British government. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 declared that the dominions were autonomous and equal in status. Although this was a political statement and did not immediately change the legal status of the Crown, each of the governments of the dominions established a separate and direct relationship with the monarchy, with the governor-general now acting as a personal representative of the monarch. The first result of the new convention was the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, which recognized the Irish Free State as separate from the United Kingdom. Full legislative independence for the other dominions was not enacted until the passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931.
Historically, proponents of the monarchy were generally supportive of the monarchy as a symbolic link to the United Kingdom. During the late 19th and early 20th century most politicians in the self-governing realms (then called Dominions) enthusiastically supported their economic and military ties with Great Britain, tended to view British culture and attitudes as favourable, and encouraged their prominence in the newly developing societies. Maintaining allegiance to the British King or Queen was thus seen as a natural thing for many residents, and membership in the British Empire, even with a secondary constitutional status, was considered more desirable than independence. Self-governance increased in the 1930s with the adoption of the Statute of Westminster and afterwards with the emergence of the modern Commonwealth of Nations. The decline in imperial mentality lead to a gradual process of removing legislative and judicial ties and establishing a separate citizenship. By the 1980s most realms had ceased to maintain any form of constitutional ties to the United Kingdom.
One Crown or several?
It is commonly held that these developments created a separate Crown in each of the Commonwealth Realms, united only in the person of the monarch and matters directly related to the person of the monarch such as the laws affecting succession.
The Crown has become an institution which operates separately in each Commonwealth Realm, with the Queen in right of each realm being a distinct legal person. The institution of the monarchy, the succession, and obviously the Queen herself, are shared equally by all the realms. Thus the Crown has both a separate and a shared character, and in different contexts "Crown" may mean the crown as shared or the crown in each realm considered separately. A number of theorists contend that the "Crown" in any of the Commonwealth Realms is the equal of the British Crown, however, in O’Donohue v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2003 Justice Rouleau described the relationship between Crown and Commonweath Realms as one of "Union under the British Crown together with other Commonwealth countries".
Normally, in realms other than the United Kingdom, the Queen personally only exercises those powers related to her appointment of a Governor-General (and even this is done on the advice of the prime minister of the realm concerned), but her name and image continue to play a prominent role in political institutions and symbols. For example, the Queen's image usually appears on coins and banknotes, and an oath of allegiance to her is usually required from politicians, judges, and new citizens.
Countries formerly Commonwealth Realms
Following their independence from Britain, most Commonwealth countries retained the Queen as head of state, but eventually changed the title of the monarch to the Sovereign of their own respective nations (ie: "Queen of Barbados", rather than "Queen of the United Kingdom"). South Africa and Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) were the first to do this.
With time, some Commonwealth Realms moved to become republics, passing constitutional amendments removing the monarch as their head of state, and replacing the Governor-General with an elected or appointed president. This was especially true in post-colonial Africa, whose leaders often did not want to "share" the office of Head of State with the Queen. They remained within the Commonwealth, following the precedent set by India in 1950, recognising the Queen as 'Head of the Commonwealth', but not as head of state. Previously, republican status was incompatible with Commonwealth membership, prompting Ireland to withdraw from the association on formally declaring itself a republic in 1949.
In some former Commonwealth realms, including Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius, the new office of President became a ceremonial post, but in others, such as Ghana, Malawi and Gambia, the Presidency became an executive post, held by the last Prime Minister. In the latter cases not only was the monarchy abolished, but so was the entire Westminster system of parliamentary government as well.
In Rhodesia, independence was declared unilaterally in 1965. Under the Rhodesian Constitution, the country was a Commonwealth realm until a republic was declared in 1970 in response to the failure of the international community to recognise Rhodesian independence. The existence of Rhodesia as a Commonwealth realm was never recognised by the monarchy.
In Fiji, the change to a republic in 1987 came as a result of a military coup, rather than out of any republican sentiment, as Fiji's indigenous chiefs had voluntarily ceded their country to the Crown. Even when Fiji was not a member of the Commonwealth, symbols of the monarchy remained, including the Queen's portrait on banknotes and coins, and, unlike in the United Kingdom, the Queen's Official Birthday is a public holiday. When Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth, the issue of reinstating the Queen as Head of State was raised, but not pursued, although the country's Great Council of Chiefs reaffirmed that the Queen was still the country's 'Paramount Chief'.
The former Commonwealth realms, and the intervals in which they were realms, are as follows:
1. Presidency is executive post.
2. Presidency originally ceremonial, now executive.
3. Presidency is ceremonial post.
4. Monarch removed from constitution and office of Governor-General abolished in 1936, Presidency created in 1937 by constitution adopted by plebiscite, but monarch retained external role until republic declared in 1949 by ordinary legislation. See Irish head of state from 1936-1949.
Burma, Cyprus, Zambia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Nauru, the Seychelles, Dominica, Kiribati, Zimbabwe and Vanuatu became republics on independence and were thus never Commonwealth realms. Nor were Malaya, Brunei, Tonga, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, the Trucial States, Swaziland, or Lesotho, all of which had their own monarchies, many of them having been British protectorates.
Public perceptions
The evolving crown
Modern proponents of the monarchy outside the United Kingdom downplay the historical "British" aspect of the monarchy, and instead focus on the Queen as Head of State of an independent nation. There has thus been a fundamental shift between the "family" aspect of the days of the British Empire, in which all dominions rallied around a common monarch, and today, in which each Commonwealth realm is encouraged to think of the Queen as "their own," and serving a role independent of any other obligations in other countries.
Debate on the monarchy
In recent years, there has been some debate about the continuing practice of sharing a monarch. While many seem to view the Queen's current role as Head of State with passive indifference, some see the Monarch as an apolitical unifying body, whether in within their own nation, throughout the Commonwealth Realms, or both, while others still view the Queen as an obstacle to true "independence" from the United Kingdom or to their country's status as a sovereign state. Opponents to the monarchy argue that the symbolism of the monarchy makes an independent nation look "subsidiary" to the United Kingdom, and can be confusing and anachronistic. They also point out that the Queen's role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England conflicts with the secular principles commonly espoused in constitutions and human rights legislation. Proponents argue that their respective realm is already an independent kingdom where the sovereign depicted on the currency, and to whom oaths are given, is sovereign specifically of said nation. They assert that any confusion about this can be eliminated with education and argue that monarchy with its history and traditions are the basis for their national identity.
Republicanism
Contemporary Commonwealth Realm republican sentiment tends to be quite different in nature from the sentiment in countries which abolished the monarchy at or shortly after independence. The remaining realms have shared the Crown for much longer, in some cases over a hundred years. The debate in such countries is thus more complicated, both in terms of the political and cultural ramifications that a change to the status quo could bring. There are varying arguments by republicans in each modern Realm for the abolition of their monarchy.
- In Australia, Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating made clear his intention to make the country a republic by 2001. A referendum held in 1999 was defeated.
- In neighbouring New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark and her predecessor James Bolger have also voiced their support for republicanism, and a Republican Movement has been established. See Republicanism in New Zealand.
- There have also been doubts expressed about the future role of the monarchy in Canada with some members of the governing Liberal Party showing support for a republic, but there has been little sign of change in the immediate future. An organised republican movement was established in 2002.
- In the Caribbean, P.J. Patterson, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, and Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados, also plan to make their countries republics.
- Tuvalu's prime minister announced his government's intention to hold a referendum by June 2005 on whether or not that country should become a republic[1], but none was held.
Today most Realms have both a Republican Movement and a Monarchist League that serve as self-proclaimed outlets of debate in the media.
In April 2005, four republican organizations within the Commonwealth launched "Common Cause", an alliance of Commonwealth republican movements. The four member organizations include the Australian Republican Movement, Citizens for a Canadian Republic, the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand and Republic in the United Kingdom.
See also
External links
Commonwealth
- Common Cause A Commonwealth Alliance of Republican Movements
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
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