Style of the Canadian sovereign - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The title and style of the Canadian sovereign is the formal mode of address of the monarch of Canada. The form is based on those that were inherited from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, used in the colonies to refer to the reigning monarch in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. As the possession of various Canadian territories changed ownership and then the country gained gradual independence, the style

Style (manner of address)

A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...

and title of the monarchs changed almost as often at the kings and queens themselves. The mode of address currently employed is a combination of a style that originates in the early 17th century and a title established by Canadian law in 1953.

Title of the monarch

The monarch's title is set out by the Royal Style and Titles Act

Royal Style and Titles Act

In the Commonwealth realms, a Royal Style and Titles Act is passed in order to declare the Sovereign's formal title.The most significant of these Acts is the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, which was passed in the United Kingdom in recognition of the creation of the Irish Free State, a...

, passed by the Canadian parliament

Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...

in 1953, a year following the accession of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II, and granted Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

the day before her coronation

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the ceremony in which the newly ascended monarch, Elizabeth II, was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, and Pakistan, as well as taking on the role of Head of the Commonwealth...

. It was later amended in 1985, and sets out the sovereign's title as, in English

Canadian English

Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...

:
And in French

Canadian French

Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...

:
The title was composed to distinctly mention Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

so as to highlight the monarch's shared status, being both Queen of Canada and, separately, Queen of the United Kingdom

Monarchy of the United Kingdom

The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...

, as well as of 14 other Commonwealth realm

Commonwealth Realm

A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...

s; with emphasis showing the distinct title Queen of Canada as embedded in the longer formal title: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. When composed in 1953, this format was consistent with the monarch's titles in all her other realms; after 40 years of Elizabeth's reign, however, only Canada and Grenada

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

retained this title, all others, aside from the UK, having dropped the reference to the United Kingdom. The sovereign will allude to herself as Queen of Canada when in or acting abroad on behalf of that country. For example, Elizabeth II said in 1973: "...it is as Queen of Canada that I am here, Queen of Canada and of all Canadians, not just of one or two ancestral strains." Since the title was adopted, the federal government

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

has promoted its use as a signifier of Canada's sovereign and independent status; Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

John Diefenbaker

John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...

said of the title in 1957: "The Queen of Canada is a term which we like to use because it utterly represents her role on this occasion." The title is also included in the Oath of Allegiance

Oath of Allegiance (Canada)

The Canadian Oath of Allegiance is a promise or declaration of fealty to the Canadian monarch, taken, along with other specific oaths of office, by new occupants of various government positions, including federal and provincial viceroys, appointees to the Queen's Privy Council, Supreme Court...

, which forms a part of the Oath of Citizenship

Oath of citizenship (Canada)

The Oath of Citizenship, or Citizenship Oath , is a statement recited and signed by candidates who wish to become citizens of Canada...

, and can be found as ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

for Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen of Canada on the obverse of various medals in the Canadian honours system.

Although the Queen's Canadian title includes the phrase Defender of the Faith/Défenseur de la Foi, neither the monarch nor any of the viceroys have an official religious role in Canada. Unlike in the United Kingdom, where the term (Fidei defensor
Fidei defensor
Fidei defensor is a Latin title which translates to Defender of the Faith in English and Défenseur de la Foi in French...

, in Latin

Latin

) signifies the sovereign's position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Supreme Governor of the Church of England

The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is a title held by the British monarchs which signifies their titular leadership over the Church of England. Although the monarch's authority over the Church of England is not strong, the position is still very relevant to the church and is mostly...

and a member and defender of the security of the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

, there have been no established churches in Canada since before its confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

in 1867. Defender of the Faith thus has a more vague meaning in the Canadian title, alluding only to the monarch's belief in a higher power. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent

Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....

stated on this matter in his 1953 contribution to the debate on the Royal Style and Titles Act in the House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

: "The rather more delicate question arose about the retention of the words defender of the faith... In our countries [Canada and the other non-British monarchies of the Commonwealth] there are no established churches, but in our countries there are people who have faith in the direction of human affairs by an all-wise Providence; and we felt that it was a good thing that the civil authorities would proclaim that their organization is such that it is a defence of the continued beliefs in a supreme power that orders the affairs of mere men, and that there could be no reasonable objection from anyone who believed in the Supreme Being in having the sovereign, the head of the civil authority, described as a believer in and a defender of the faith in a supreme ruler.

Also, while the sovereign holds the nominal title Head of the Commonwealth
Head of the Commonwealth
The Head of the Commonwealth heads the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation which currently comprises 54 sovereign states. The position is currently occupied by the individual who serves as monarch of each of the Commonwealth realms, but has no day-to-day involvement in the...

, this does not imply any political power over member states of the Commonwealth of Nations

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

. In keeping, however, with the declaration of the prime ministers of the Commonwealth in London in 1949 of "the King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth," the title will pass to the next monarch upon the demise of the Crown

Demise of the Crown

In relation to the shared monarchy of the Commonwealth realms and other monarchies, the demise of the Crown is the legal term for the end of a reign by a king, queen, or emperor, whether by death or abdication....

Style of the monarch

The use of the styles Highness and Majesty originated in the United Kingdom, where they were used from the 12th century onward. During the reign of James VI of Scotland and I of England and Ireland

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

, however, Majesty became the official style, to the exclusion of all others, and was then brought to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

during colonial times through usage in reference to the British monarch

Monarchy of the United Kingdom

, who then had sovereignty over the colonies on that continent

British North America

British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...

. Its usage has continued since Canada became a kingdom

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

in its own right in 1867, and after a process of constitutional evolution ending with full sovereignty from the United Kingdom, is now applied to the Canadian monarch. Unlike in the United Kingdom, where the sovereign is referred to in treaties and on British passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

s as Her [His] Britannic Majesty, the sovereign in Canada is referred to simply as Her [His] Majesty (Sa Majesté). However, from time to time, the style will be Her [His] Canadian Majesty so as to differentiate from foreign sovereigns.

History

Following Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

, Prime Minister of Canada John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

, having been denied the name Kingdom of Canada for the new country, was repeatedly heard to refer to Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

as the Queen of Canada, and, similarly, in the lead up to the coronation

Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

of King Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

in 1902, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....

desired to have the words King of Canada included in the royal title by the time of the ceremony. This wish was not fulfilled, however, and Canada inherited the full British title when the country gained legislative independence from the United Kingdom in 1931.

Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

Eugène Marquis

Eugène Marquis was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, Quebec and became a crown attorney, judge and lawyer by career....

in 1945 tabled a motion in the House of Commons proposing that a change to the King's title be a subject of discussion at the next Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

For conferences held since 1969 see Commonwealth Heads of Government MeetingCommonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference were biennial meetings of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominion members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Seventeen Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences...

; Marquis suggested that the title include each of the King's dominions, giving him the deignation King of Canada. But, the bill did not pass and it was only in 1948 that form of address changed, when the Canadian parliament passed in 1947 its own Royal Style and Titles Act and an Order in Council was issued on 22 June the following year to remove the term Emperor of India
Emperor of India
Emperor/Empress of India was used as a title by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, and revived by the colonial British monarchs during the British Raj in India....

from the sovereign's Canadian title. In 1949, it was suggested by Cabinet that the King's title be altered so that in Canada it would be George the Sixth, by the Grace of God, of Canada and the other nations of the British Commonwealth, King; but, again, nothing came of the proposal. At the time, Robert Gordon Robertson

Robert Gordon Robertson

Robert Gordon Robertson, PC, CC, FRSC was Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from November 15, 1953 to July 12, 1963 who, having been sworn in at the age of 36, remains the youngest person to ever hold the office...

, then a member of the Cabinet Secretariat, opined that Canadians would not like the title King of Canada, as "most Canadians... have not thought of themselves as citizens of either a republic or a monarchy." Still, in 1950, when William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon

William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon

William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon, OC, PC was a Canadian politician and judge in the Province of Saskatchewan. He also served as a diplomat for the Government of Canada.- Early Life :...

was sent to Ireland as Canada's ambassador to that country, the Cabinet wished to have George VI referred to in the letters of credence

Letter of Credence

A letter of credence is a formal letter usually sent by one head of state to another that formally grants diplomatic accreditation to a named individual to be their ambassador in the country of the head of state receiving the letter...

as King of Canada. The King's secretaries objected strongly, claiming the monarch had only one title in law, and Turgeon's letters eventually used George's full legal title, which referred to him as sovereign of Great Britain "and Ireland."

The proclamations of Elizabeth II's accession to the throne

Proclamation of accession of Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II was proclaimed sovereign of each of the Commonwealth realms on 6 and 7 February 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI, in the night between 5 February and 6 February, and while the Princess was in Kenya....

in February 1952 differed between Canada and the United Kingdom; in the latter, the new queen was referred to unconventionally as Queen Elizabeth II by the Grace of God, Queen of this Realm, and of Her other Realms and Territories, while the Canadian Privy Council adhered to the letter of the law, calling the sovereign Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas. The discrepancies between independent countries sharing one person as sovereign prompted discussions amongst the Commonwealth prime ministers before a meeting in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in December 1952; Canada's then Prime Minister, Louis St. Laurent, stated that it was important a new composition for the royal title be agreed upon by all realms involved, to "emphasise the fact that the Queen is Queen of Canada, regardless of her sovereignty over other Commonwealth countries." Canada's preferred format was: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Canada and of Her other realms and territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. However, as Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n ministers wished to have the United Kingdom mentioned in all the Queen's titles, the resolution reached was a designation that included the United Kingdom as well as, for the first time, reference to Canada and the other Commonwealth realm

Commonwealth Realm

s separately.

When the act to alter the Queen's title was in 1953 debated in the House of Commons, Louis St. Laurent asserted on the nature of the separate and shared characteristics of the Crown

The Crown

The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

: "Her Majesty is now Queen of Canada but she is the Queen of Canada because she is Queen of the United Kingdom... It is not a separate office." Parliament then unanimously passed the new Royal Style and Titles Act, which was granted Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

and proclaimed by Governor General

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

Vincent Massey

Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Canadian Confederation....

on 29 May 1953, just four days before Elizabeth II was crowned

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

. The new legislation conferred publicly and legally the concept of a unique constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

for Canada, thereby fulfilling the vision of the Fathers of Confederation. A subsequent Royal Style and Titles Act was passed in 1985, though it did not alter the Queen's title in any way.

Styles of Canadian sovereigns

Period	Style	Users
1 July 1867 – 1 January 1877	Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith	Victoria Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
1 January 1877 – 22 January 1901	Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India	Victoria Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
22 January 1901 – 22 June 1948	King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India	Edward VII Edward VII of the United Kingdom Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910... , George V George V of the United Kingdom George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936.... , Edward VIII Edward VIII of the United Kingdom Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay... , George VI George VI of the United Kingdom George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
22 June 1948 – 6 February 1952	King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith	George VI George VI of the United Kingdom George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
6 February 1952 – Present	Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada and her other realms and territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith	Elizabeth II

External links

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Title of the monarch

Style of the monarch

History

Styles of Canadian sovereigns

See also

External links