Head of the Commonwealth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Queen Elizabeth II is the second person to be recognised as Head of the Commonwealth (which currently has 53 members). These include the 16 Commonwealth realms (where the Queen is also head of state, separately from her roles as Head of the Commonwealth), Commonwealth republics, and monarchies under another Royal House (as in Tonga, Malaysia, Swaziland, etc.).
The official French version (for use in Canada) is Chef du Commonwealth; the South African version in Afrikaans is Hoof van die Statebond (literally 'Chief of the confederation', while the common Afrikaans word for Commonwealth is Gemenebes).
Contents |
[edit] Title
The title was devised in 1949 (see below), however, was not added to the monarch's style until 1953. In that year, a Royal Style and Titles Act was passed separately in each of the seven Realms then existing (except Pakistan), which gave formal recognition to the separateness and the equality of the Realms by entitling the Queen as "Queen of [Realm] and her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth."
[edit] Position
The role of the "Head" of the Commonwealth is perhaps best compared to that of a ceremonial president, but for life: unlike a chairman or secretary general of any other international organisation, the Head of the Commonwealth is a symbol of the association – without executive powers, yet playing a very important role in shaping the Commonwealth.
The title is not vested in the Crown.[1] However, the assumption is that the title itself would become extinct were it not held by the shared monarch, and no new suggestions have ever been put forward by any of the Commonwealth member-countries as to who, if anyone, should take on the role currently exercised by Queen Elizabeth II. In all probability, therefore, her successor will also succeed to the role of the Head of the Commonwealth.[2]
The Head of the Commonwealth is recognised by its members as the "symbol of their free association", attends Commonwealth Heads of Government summits and the Commonwealth Games, which are held every four years, and on every Commonwealth Day, which is the second Monday in March, broadcasts a message to all member countries.
Every two years a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is held, at locations throughout the Commonwealth. The Head of the Commonwealth is normally present in the host country, and has a series of private meetings with the Commonwealth countries' leaders and attends a CHOGM reception and dinner, and makes a speech there. The latest CHOGM was held in November 2007 in Uganda; the next meeting will be held in 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago.
[edit] History
The London Declaration of 1949, devised by Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent stated that the monarch would be a symbol of the free association of independent countries, and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. These words meant that kingdoms that were not Commonwealth Realms, as well as republics, could remain members - they could recognise the monarch as Head of the Commonwealth without accepting the person as the country's Head of State. Thus when the former Dominion of India became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1950, it recognised George VI as the symbol of the association, but not as its head of state.
When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 she became Head of the Commonwealth.
On her accession she said
| “ | "The Commonwealth bears no resemblance to the empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace." | ” |
In December 1960, the Queen had a personal flag created to symbolise her as an individual and not associated with her role as Queen of the United Kingdom. Over time, the flag started to be used in place of the Royal Standard when the Queen visited Commonwealth countries where she was not head of state and for Commonwealth occasions in the United Kingdom to symbolise the Queen's role as Head of the Commonwealth. When the Queen visits Marlborough House in London, headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, her personal standard is raised and not the Royal Standard.[3]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ This refers to the Crown as shared amongst the kingdoms of the Commonwealth in a personal union relationship, and the Commonwealth's members may not agree that the next monarch after Elizabeth II should automatically succeed her as Head of the Commonwealth upon accession to the Throne.
- ^ The position of Head of the Commonwealth was discussed at the 1997 Edinburgh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The consensus was that the title should remain annexed to the Sovereign.
- ^ Royal Insight Mailbox, September 2006.
[edit] See also
|
||||||||||||||||
