The royal sign manual is the formal name given in the Commonwealth realms to the signature of the sovereign, by the affixing of which the monarch expresses his or her pleasure either by order, commission, or warrant. A sign-manual warrant may be either an executive act — for example, an appointment to an office — or an authority for affixing the Great Seal of the pertinent realm. The sign-manual is also used to give power to make and ratify treaties.
Some letters patent are not signed by the monarch in person. Instead, the monarch signs a warrant authorizing the preparation of the letters patent (that are written in ceremonial calligraphy and on vellum) and approving the draft text of the letters patent. Then, once the letters patent are prepared, they are sealed with the Great Seal without the need for the signature of the monarch, because authority for issuing the letters patent was already given by the sovereign by means of the warrant. Those letters patent finish with the words "By warrant under the Royal Sign Manual," to signify that they do not bear the sign-manual themselves because they have already been approved by a previous warrant.
In contrast, other letters patent, due to the nature of their contents (such as those that authorise the expenditure of money, or those that signify Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament), need to have the royal sign-manual affixed directly to them. In that case, the letters patent will contain, at the bottom, the words: "Signed by the Queen herself with Her own hand." The royal sign-manual will usually be placed by the sovereign at the top of the document. These papers usually must be countersigned by a principal secretary of state or other responsible minister.
In certain cases, the use of the sign-manual has been dispensed with and a stamp affixed in lieu thereof, as in the case of George IV, whose bodily infirmity made the act of signing difficult and painful during the last weeks of his life. The Royal Signature by Commission Act 1830 (11 Geo. IV & 1 Will. IV c. 23) was passed providing that a stamp might be affixed in lieu of the sign-manual, but the sovereign had to express his consent to each separate use of the stamp, the stamped document being attested by a confidential servant and several officers of State.[1]
The royal sign-manual usually consists of the sovereign's regnal name, without the numbering, followed by the letter R for Rex (King) or Regina (Queen). Thus, the signature of the current queen reads Elizabeth R. During the period when the British monarch also held the title of Emperor or Empress of India, the sign manual would end with the letters R I, such as in Edward R. I., the letter I meaning Imperator (Emperor) or Imperatrix (Empress).
The royal sign-manual of King George III. |
The signature of King Edward VIII as King-Emperor. |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.