Monarchy of Canada

This article is about the monarchy of Canada. For information on the other countries which share the same monarchy, see Commonwealth realm. For the current Queen of Canada, see Elizabeth II.

Queen of Canada
Federal
Royal coat of arms of Canada
Incumbent
Elizabeth II
Details
Style	Her Majesty
Heir apparent	Charles, Prince of Wales
First monarch	Victoria
Formation	1 July 1867

The monarchy of Canada, also referred to as The Crown in Right of Canada, Her Majesty in Right of Canada, or The Queen in Right of Canada, is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Canada, forming the core– or, "the most basic building block"– of the country's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, and thus the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government.

While Royal Assent and the royal sign-manual are required to enact laws, letters patent, and Orders-in-Council, the authority for these acts stems from the Canadian populace, and, within the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited, with most related powers entrusted for exercise by the elected and appointed parliamentarians, the ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them, and the judges and Justices of the Peace. The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance, and a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power, the sovereign acting as a custodian of the Crown's democratic powers, and representing the "power of the people above government and political parties."

The Canadian monarchy has its roots in the French and British crowns, from which it has evolved over numerous centuries to become a distinctly Canadian institution– one of the few crowns that have survived through uninterrupted inheritance– represented by unique symbols, and sometimes being colloquially dubbed the Maple Crown. The Canadian monarch– since 6 February 1952, Elizabeth II– is today shared equally with fifteen other countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, all being independent and the monarchy of each legally distinct. For Canada, the monarch is officially titled Queen of Canada (French: Reine du Canada), and she, her consort, and other members of the Canadian Royal Family undertake various public and private functions across Canada and on behalf of the country abroad. However, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. While several powers are the sovereign's alone, because she lives predominantly in the United Kingdom, most of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the Queen's representative, the Governor General; therefore, the Governor General can sometimes be referred to as the de facto head of state. In each of Canada's provinces, the monarch is represented by a Lieutenant Governor, while the territories are not sovereign and thus do not have a viceroy.

International and domestic aspects

Further information: Commonwealth realm > Relationship of the realms

Canada shares the same monarch with each of 15 monarchies in the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms. The emergence of this arrangement paralleled the evolution of Canadian nationalism following the end of the First World War and culminated in the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, since when the pan-national Crown has had both a shared and separate character, and the sovereign's role as monarch of Canada has been distinct to his or her position as monarch of the United Kingdom. The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, though it is still often called "British" in both legal and common language for reasons historical, political, and of convenience, conflicting with the federal and provincial governments' recognition and promotion of a distinctly Canadian Crown, as well as with the sovereign's distinct Canadian title, which is: 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 (French: Elizabeth Deux, par la grâce de Dieu, Reine du Royaume-Uni, du Canada et de ses autres royaumes et territoires, Chef du Commonwealth, Défenseur de la Foi).

Effective with the Constitution Act, 1982, no British or other realm government can advise the sovereign on any matters pertinent to Canada, meaning that on all matters of the Canadian state, the monarch is advised solely by Canadian federal Ministers of the Crown. As the monarch lives predominantly outside of Canada, one of the most important of these state duties carried out on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister is the appointment of the federal viceroy, who is titled as Governor General, and performs most of the Queen's domestic duties in her absence. This includes sending and receiving ambassadors to represent the sovereign abroad, but, given the shared nature of the Crown, it is considered impossible for the monarch of Canada to do so for any other country of which he or she is also monarch; essentially sending an ambassador to him or herself. Instead, the practice of sending High Commissioners developed, wherein an individual is sent to be the representative in one realm of the government in another.

The sovereign similarly only draws from Canadian coffers for support in the performance of her duties when in Canada or acting as Queen of Canada abroad; Canadians do not pay any money to the Queen or any other member of the Royal Family, either towards personal income or to support royal residences outside of Canada. Normally, tax dollars pay only for the costs associated with the Governor General and ten Lieutenant-Governors in the exercise of the powers of the Crown, including travel, security, residences, offices, ceremonies, and the like. In the absence of official reports on the full cost of the monarchy, the Monarchist League of Canada regularly issues a survey based on various federal and provincial budgets, expenditures, and estimates; the 2009 survey found that the institution cost Canadians roughly $50 million in 2008.

Succession

Succession is by male-preference primogeniture governed by the provisions of the Act of Settlement, 1701, and the Bill of Rights, 1689. This legislation limits the succession to the natural (i.e. non-adopted), legitimate descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and stipulates that the monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic, nor married to one, and must be in communion with the Church of England upon ascending the throne, clauses that have led to legal challenge. Though via adopting the Statute of Westminster these constitutional laws, as they apply to Canada, now lie within the control of the Canadian parliament, Canada also agreed not to change its rules of succession without the unanimous consent of the other realms, unless explicitly leaving the shared monarchy relationship; a situation that applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the United Kingdom, and which has been likened to a treaty amongst these countries. Thus, Canada's line of succession remains identical to that of the United Kingdom; however, there is no provision in Canadian law that states that the King or Queen of Canada must be the same person as the King or Queen of the United Kingdom; if the United Kingdom were to breach the convention set out in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster and change the line of succession to the British throne without Canada's consent, the alteration would have no effect on the reigning sovereign of Canada or his or her heirs and successors. As such, the rules for succession are not fixed, but may be changed by a constitutional amendment.

Charles, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent to the Canadian throne.

Upon a demise of the Crown (the death or abdication of a sovereign), the late sovereign's heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any need for confirmation or further ceremony– hence arises the phrase "The King is dead. Long live the King!"– though it is customary for the accession of the new monarch to be publicly proclaimed by the Governor General on behalf of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, which meets at Rideau Hall after the accession. Following an appropriate period of mourning, the monarch is also coronated in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual, but one not necessary for a sovereign to reign. Per the 1927 Act Respecting the Demise of the Crown, no incumbent appointee of the Crown is affected by the death of the monarch, though they are required to re-take the Oath of Allegiance, and by the Interpretation Act of 2005, all references in legislation to previous monarchs, whether in the masculine (e.g. His Majesty) or feminine (e.g. the Queen), continue to mean the reigning sovereign of Canada, regardless of his or her gender. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she typically continues to reign until death, being unable to unilaterally abdicate per the tenets of constitutional monarchy.

Personification of the state

Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Sovereign's insignia of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit.

The Crown is an integral part of a practical form of government, and as such it has a direct and substantive part to play in the lives of all Canadians.

David E. Smith, The Invisible Crown, 1995

As the living embodiment of the Crown, the sovereign is regarded as the personification, or legal personality, of the Canadian state, with the state therefore referred to as Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada (French: Sa Majesté la Reine du chef du Canada). As such, the monarch is the employer of all government staff (including the viceroys, judges, members of the Canadian Forces, police officers, and parliamentarians), the guardian of foster children (Crown wards), as well as the owner of all state lands (Crown land), buildings and equipment (Crown held property), state owned companies (Crown Corporations), and the copyright for all government publications (Crown copyright). This is all in his or her position as sovereign, and not as an individual; all such property is held by the Crown in perpetuity and cannot be sold by the sovereign without the proper advice and consent of his or her ministers.

As the embodiment of the state, the monarch tops the Canadian order of precedence, and is also the locus of oaths of allegiance, required of many employees of the Crown, as well as by new citizens, as per the Oath of Citizenship laid out in the Citizenship Act. This is done in reciprocation to the sovereign's Coronation Oath, wherein he or she promises "to govern the Peoples of... Canada... according to their respective laws and customs."

Constitutional role

Canada's constitution is made up of a variety of statutes and conventions that are either British, French, or Canadian in origin, and give Canada a parliamentary system of government wherein the role of the Queen is both legal and practical. The Crown is regarded as a corporation with the sovereign, vested as she is with all powers of state, as the centre of a constitutional construct in which several parts– the institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority– share the power of the whole. All Canadians live under the authority of the monarch, though this authority stems from the Canadian people, and anyone born in Canada, whether to citizens or to landed migrants, is recognised per common law as a natural-born subject of the Crown.

The vast powers that belong to the Crown are collectively known as the Royal Prerogative. Its exercise does not require parliamentary approval, though it is not unlimited; for example, the monarch does not have the prerogative to impose and collect new taxes– such an action requires the authorization of an Act of Parliament. The consent of the Crown must, however, be obtained before either of the houses of parliament may even debate a bill affecting the sovereign's prerogatives or interests, and no act of parliament binds the Queen or her rights and prerogatives unless the act states that it does. Further, the constitution instructs that any change to the position of the monarch, or the monarch's representatives in Canada, requires the consent of the Senate, the House of Commons, and the legislative assemblies of all the provinces.

As the repository of all authority in Canada, the Crown sits at the pinnacle of the Canadian Forces, with the constitution placing the monarch in the position of Commander-in-Chief of the entire force, though the Governor General carries out the duties attached to the position and also bears, via Letters Patent issued by King George VI, the title of Commander-in-Chief in and Over Canada. This relationship of the monarch to her forces is reflected in Canadian naval vessels bearing the prefix Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS), and all new recruits into the forces must swear allegiance to the Queen and her heirs and successors. Though the Queen and members of her family also act as Colonels-in-Chief of various regiments in the military, these posts are only ceremonial in nature, reflecting the Crown's relationship with the military through participation in military ceremonies both at home and abroad. The monarch also serves as the Honorary Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Included in Canada's constitution are the various treaties with the country's First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, who view these documents as agreements directly between them and the Crown. These accords illustrate a long relationship between sovereign and aboriginals, beginning with the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which is mentioned in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and outlines the Crown's responsibility to protect First Nations' territories and act as a fiduciary between the government and aboriginal peoples in Canada. It is thus, as further outlined in the Constitution Act, 1867, solely the responsibility of the federal Crown to establish reserves and negotiate further treaties, though the maintenance of reserves may fall to the relevant provincial crown. In light of this relationship, Canada's First Nations hold the monarch in high regard, for both modern and historical reasons.

Executive (Queen-in-Council)

The government of Canada, which is formally referred to as Her Majesty's Government, is defined by the constitution as the Queen acting on the advice of her Privy Council; what is technically known as the Queen-in-Council, or sometimes the Governor-in-Council, referring to the Governor General as the Queen's stand-in. One of the main duties of the Crown is to appoint the individual most likely to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons as prime minister; this is usually the leader of the political party with a majority in that house, but when no party or coalition holds a majority (referred to as a minority parliament), or similar scenario, the Governor General's judgement about the most suitable candidate for prime minister must be brought into play. The Prime Minister thereafter heads the Cabinet– a committee of the Privy Council made up of other Ministers of the Crown who are similarly drawn from and responsible to the elected and appointed chambers of parliament, and are charged with advising the monarch and Governor General on how to exercise the Royal Prerogative. The Queen is informed by her viceroy of the acceptance of the resignation of a prime minister and the swearing-in of a new prime minister and other members of the ministry, and she remains fully briefed through regular communications from her Canadian ministers, and holds audience with them whenever possible.

File:Canadian Cabinet 2008-10-30.jpg

Governor General Michaëlle Jean with Her Majesty's Cabinet, 30 October 2008.

In the construct of constitutional monarchy and responsible government, the ministerial advice tendered is typically binding; since the death in 1714 of Queen Anne– the last monarch to head the British Cabinet (when almost all of Canada was still French colonial territory)– the monarch reigns but does not rule. This has been the case in Canada since the Treaty of Paris ended the reign of the territory's last absolute monarch, King Louis XV. The Cabinet thus directs the use of the Royal Prerogative, which includes the privilege to declare war, maintain the Queen's peace, command the Canadian Forces, grant immunity from prosecution, and invoke the prerogative of mercy, as well as to summon and prorogue parliament, and call elections. However, it is important to note that, though it may often appear differently, the Royal Prerogative belongs to the Crown and not to any of the ministers, and the royal and viceroyal figures may unilaterally use these powers in exceptional constitutional crisis situations. There are also a few duties which must be specifically performed by, or bills that require assent by, the Queen; these include applying the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada to the appointment papers of governors general, the confirmation of awards of Canadian honours, and the approval of any change in her Canadian title. On occasion the monarch must personally act directly in partisan affairs. For example, this occurred when Queen Elizabeth II directed, as per the constitution and on the advice of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, that the number of Senate seats be increased to assure passage of the GST.

Members of various executive agencies, and other officials are appointed by the Crown, though some of these appointments may only be made by the Governor General. Public inquiries are also commissioned by the Queen or Governor-in-Council through a Royal Warrant, and are called Royal Commissions.

Foreign affairs

The Royal Prerogative also extends to foreign affairs: the sovereign or, since 1978, the Governor General negotiates and ratifies treaties, alliances, and international agreements, on the advice of the Cabinet. The Governor General, on behalf of the Queen, also accredits Canadian High Commissioners and ambassadors, and receives similar diplomats from foreign states. These tasks were solely in the domain of the sovereign until 1977, when, at the direction of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to allow the Governor General to perform these duties on her behalf, and in 2005 the Letters of Credence and Recall were altered so as to run in the name of the incumbent governor general, instead of following the usual international process of the letters being from one head of state to another. In addition, the issuance of passports falls under the Royal Prerogative, and, as such, all Canadian passports are issued in the monarch's name and remain her property.

Parliament (Queen-in-Parliament)

File:EIIR-Canadian Parliament.jpg

Elizabeth II reads the Throne Speech in a joint session of the Canadian Parliament, 1977, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The sovereign, along with the Senate and the House of Commons, is one of the three components of parliament, and is formally called the Queen-in-Parliament. The authority of the Crown therein is embodied in the mace for each house, which both bear a crown at their apex. The monarch and viceroy do not, however, participate in the legislative process save for signifying the Queen's approval to a bill passed by both houses of parliament, known as the granting of Royal Assent, and which is necessary for a bill to be enacted as law. All federal bills thus begin with the phrase "Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows...", and, as such, the Crown is immune from acts of parliament unless expressed otherwise in the act itself. The Governor General will normally perform the task of granting Royal Assent, though the monarch may also do so, at the request of either the Cabinet or the viceroy, who may defer assent to the sovereign as per the constitution.

The Constitution Act, 1867, also outlines that the Governor General alone is responsible for summoning the House of Commons, though it remains the monarch's prerogative to prorogue and dissolve parliament, after which the writs for a general election are usually dropped by the Governor General at Rideau Hall. The new parliamentary session is marked by the State Opening of Parliament, during which either the monarch or the Governor General reads the Speech from the Throne. As the both are traditionally barred from the House of Commons, this ceremony, as well as the bestowing of Royal Assent, takes place in the Senate chamber; Members of Parliament are summoned to these events from the commons by the Crown's messenger, the Usher of the Black Rod, after he knocks on the doors of the lower house that have been slammed closed on him to symbolise the forbidding of the monarch from the commons. Despite this exclusion, members of the commons must still express their loyalty to the sovereign and defer to her authority, as the Oath of Allegiance must be recited by all new parliamentarians before they may take their seat, and the official opposition is traditionally dubbed as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, to demonstrate that though they may be opposed to the incumbent Cabinet's policies, these MPs remain dedicated to the Crown.

Courts (Queen-on-the-Bench)

The sovereign is responsible for rendering justice for all her subjects, and is thus traditionally deemed the fount of justice, or more officially, the Queen on the Bench. However, she does not personally rule in judicial cases; instead the judicial functions of the Royal Prerogative are performed in trust and in the Queen's name by Officers of Her Majesty's Court. These individuals enjoy the privilege granted conditionally by the sovereign to be free from criminal and civil liability for unsworn statements made within the court. This privilege extends from the notion in common law that the sovereign "can do no wrong"; the monarch cannot be prosecuted in her own courts for criminal offences. Civil lawsuits against the Crown in its public capacity (that is, lawsuits against the Queen-in-Council) are permitted; however, lawsuits against the monarch personally are not cognizable. In international cases, as a sovereign and under established principals of international law, the Queen of Canada is not subject to suit in foreign courts without her express consent. The monarch, and by extension the Governor General, also exercises the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, and may pardon offences against the Crown, either before, during, or after a trial.

As the judges and courts are the sovereign's judges and courts, and as all law in Canada derives from the Crown, the monarch stands to give legitimacy to courts of justice, and is the source of their judicial authority. An image of the Queen and/or the Arms of Her Majesty in Right of Canada is always displayed in Canadian federal courtrooms. Itinerant judges will display an image of the Queen and the Canadian flag when holding a session away from established courtrooms; such situations occur in parts of Canada where the stakeholders in a given court case are too isolated geographically to be able to travel for regular proceedings.

Provinces

Main article: Monarchy in the Canadian provinces

File:May23 14-QE-Alb.jpg

The three parts of the provincial government of Alberta: (l to r) Lieutenant-Governor Norman Kwong, The Queen, and Premier Ralph Klein.

The Canadian monarchy is a federal one in which the Crown is unitary throughout all jurisdictions in the country, with the headship of state being a part of all equally. The sovereignty of the provinces is thus passed on not by the Governor General or the federal parliament, but through the Crown itself as a part of the executive, legislative, and judicial operations in each province, meaning that, though singular, the Crown is "divided" into eleven legal jurisdictions, or eleven "crowns"– one federal and ten provincial. The Fathers of Confederation viewed the system of constitutional monarchy as a bulwark against any potential fracturing of the Canadian federation.

A Lieutenant-Governor serves as the Queen's representative in each province, carrying out all the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties of state on her behalf. The Commissioners of Canada's territories of Nunavut, Yukon, and Northwest Territories are appointed by the Governor-in-Council, at the recommendation of the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, but, as the territories are not sovereign entities, the commissioners are not representatives of the sovereign.

Cultural role

Royal presence and duties

Further information: Royal tours of Canada and List of Commonwealth visits made by Queen Elizabeth II

Members of the Royal Family have been present in Canada since the late 1700s, for various reasons including participating in military manoeuvres, serving as the federal viceroy, or undertaking official royal tours, which, though the monarch and the rest of the Royal Family live predominantly in the United Kingdom, now occur regularly enough that they are referred to by monarchists as royal homecomings. A prominent feature of these are numerous royal walkabouts, the tradition of which was initiated in 1939 by Queen Elizabeth when she was in Ottawa and broke from the royal party to speak directly to gathered veterans. Usually important milestones, anniversaries, or celebrations of Canadian culture will warrant the presence of the monarch, while other royals will be asked to participate in lesser occasions. A household to assist and tend to the monarch will form part of the royal party.

The dedication of the National War Memorial in Ottawa by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, 1939.

Official duties involve the sovereign representing the Canadian state at home or abroad, or her relations as members of the Canadian Royal Family participating in a government organized ceremonies either in Canada or elsewhere. The advice of the Canadian Cabinet is the impetus for royal participation in any Canadian event, though, at present, the Chief of Protocol and his staff in the Department of Canadian Heritage are, as part of the State Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Program, responsible for orchestrating any official events in or for Canada that involve the Royal Family. Such events have included centennials and bicentennials; Canada Day; the openings of Pan American, Olympic, and other games; anniversaries of First Nations treaty signings; awards ceremonies; D-Day commemorations; anniversaries of the monarch's accession; and the like.

Unofficial duties are performed by Royal Family members on behalf of Canadian organizations of which they may be patrons, through their attendance at charity events, visiting with members of the Canadian Forces as Colonel-in-Chief, or marking certain key anniversaries. The invitation and expenses associated with these undertakings are usually borne by the associated organization. In 2002 members of the Royal Family were present at a total of 117 Canadian engagements, 57 events in 2003, 19 in 2004, and 76 in 2005.

Apart from Canada, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family regularly perform public duties in the other fifteen nations of the Commonwealth in which the Queen is head of state. This situation, however, can mean the monarch and/or members of the Royal Family will be promoting one nation and not another; a situation that has been met with criticism.

Symbols, associations, and awards

Main articles: Canadian royal symbols and Royal Charter > Canada

Further information: List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage

The Queen's Personal Canadian Flag.

An Equestrian statue of Elizabeth II, Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, on Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

The main symbol of the monarchy is the sovereign herself, described as "the personal expression of the Crown in Canada," and her image is thus used to signify government authority– her effigy, for instance, appearing on currency, and her portrait in government buildings. A royal cypher or crown is also used to illustrate the monarchy as the locus of authority, the latter without referring to any specific monarch. The former appears on buildings and official seals, and the latter on provincial and national coats of arms, as well as police force and Canadian Forces regimental and maritime badges and rank insignia. The sovereign will also appear in person to represent the Canadian nation, and is both mentioned in and the subject of songs, loyal toasts, and salutes.

The Queen is the fount of all honours in Canada, and new orders, decorations, and medals may only be created with the approval of the sovereign through letters patent. Hence, the insignia and medallions for these awards bear a crown, cypher, and/or effigy of the monarch. Similarly, the country's heraldic authority was created by the Queen in 1988, and, operating under the authority of the Governor General, grants new coats of arms (armorial bearings), flags, and badges to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and corporate bodies. Use of the royal crown in such symbols is a gift from the monarch showing royal support and/or association, and requires her approval before being added.

Besides government and military institutions, a number of Canadian civilian organizations have association with the monarchy, either through their being founded via a Royal Charter (such as the Hudson's Bay Company, the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Scouts Canada, and McGill University), having been granted the right to use the prefix royal before their name (such as the Royal Ottawa Golf Club and the Royal Canadian Regiment), or because at least one member of the Royal Family serves as a patron.

Some charities and volunteer organizations have also been founded as gifts to, or in honour of, some of Canada's monarchs or members of the Royal Family, such as the Victorian Order of Nurses (a gift to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897), the Canadian Cancer Fund (set up in honour of King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935), and the Queen Elizabeth II Fund to Aid in Research on the Diseases of Children. A number of awards in Canada are similarly issued in the name of previous or present members of the Royal Family. Further, organizations will give commemorative gifts to members of the Royal Family to mark a visit or other important occasion, such as the tapestry of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police badge presented to the Queen by the RCMP after she approved the new design in Regina, Saskatchewan, on 4 July 1973.

Canadian Royal Family

The Canadian Royal Family is shared between the Commonwealth realms; this article focuses on the perspective of Canada. For information on the Royal Family in the other realms, see Other realms: Royal Family.

File:Roy-fam-canada.jpg

The Canadian Royal Family gathers in Lac-Brome, Quebec, 1976 (left to right: the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne (now Princess Royal), Mark Phillips, Prince Edward (now Earl of Wessex), the Queen, Prince Andrew (now Duke of York) and Charles, Prince of Wales.

The Canadian Royal Family is a group of people closely related to the monarch of Canada. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member of the Royal Family, though it can be loosely described as the extended family of the reigning monarch. This usually results in the membership including the monarch, his or her consort, the widowed consorts of previous monarchs, the children of the monarch, the male-line grandchildren of the monarch, and the spouses and the widowed spouses of a monarch's son and male-line grandsons. However, according to former Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps, the Canadian federal government maintains an official list of Royal Family members for matters of honours and protocol, from which divorced spouses of the monarch's descendants are removed, as was the case with Diana, Princess of Wales. Queen Elizabeth II heads this group, and for Canada, those in the direct line of succession who bear the style of Royal Highness (Altesse Royale) are subjects of, and owe their allegiance to, her specifically as the Queen of Canada, entitling them to Canadian consular assistance and to the protection of the Queen's armed forces of Canada when they are outside of the Commonwealth realms and in need of protection or aid. In Canada, the sovereign is the only member of the Royal Family who has a title established through law. It would be possible for other members of the Royal Family to be granted distinctly Canadian titles (as is the case for the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland), but they have always been, and continue to only be accorded the use of a courtesy title, which is the style they have been granted via Letters Patent in the United Kingdom, though in Canada these styles are also translated to French.

Because of the shared nature of the Canadian Crown, members of the Canadian Royal Family are also members of the British Royal Family, and thus also belong to the House of Windsor, as well as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, which makes them all members of the extended Greek, Danish, and Belgian Royal Families. There are, though, some exceptions to the official lists: for instance, despite only holding the style of The Right Honourable (Le très honorable), Angus Ogilvy was included in the Department of Canadian Heritage's royal family list, whereas he was not considered a member of the British Royal Family. Also, as those who comprise the group live predominantly in the United Kingdom, it is a non-resident royal family, but is not regarded as a foreign one, and some members have lived in Canada for extended periods as viceroy or for other reasons. There have been two marriages of Canadian citizens into the extended royal family: In 1988, Sylvana Jones (née Tomaselli in Placentia, Newfoundland) married George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, a great-grandson of King George V; and on 18 May 2008, Autumn Kelly, originally from Montreal, married Queen Elizabeth II's eldest grandson, Peter Phillips. All other members of the clan are classified as legal subjects of the Queen of Canada; a unique positioning that is reflected in the confusion that sometimes arises around the awarding of honours to members of the Royal Family. Beyond legalities, members of the Royal Family have also, on occasion, declared themselves to be Canadian.

It has been said by the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust that Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, due to his having lived in Canada between 1791 and 1800, and being the father of Queen Victoria, is the "ancestor of the modern Canadian Royal Family." However, the concept of the Canadian Royal Family did not emerge until after the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931; though the act came into effect during the reign of King George V, Canadian officials only began to overtly consider putting the principles of Canada's new status as an independent kingdom into effect during the late 1930s. At first, the monarch was the only member of the Royal Family to carry out public ceremonial duties solely on the advice of Canadian ministers; King Edward VIII became the first to do so when in July 1936 he dedicated the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France– one of his few obligations performed during his short reign. Over the decades, however, the monarch's children, grandchildren, cousins, and their respective spouses began to also perform functions at the direction of the Canadian Crown-in-Council, representing the monarch within Canada or abroad. By the 1960s, loyal societies in Canada recognized the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, as a Canadian princess, but, despite the length of service, it was not until October 2002 when the term Canadian Royal Family was first used publicly and officially by a member of it: in a speech to the Nunavut legislature at its opening, Queen Elizabeth II stated: "I am proud to be the first member of the Canadian Royal Family to be greeted in Canada's newest territory." Still, the Canadian and other media will often refer to the Royal Family of Canada as the "British Royal Family". The press frequently follows the movements of the Royal Family, and can, at times, affect the group's popularity, which has fluctuated over the years. Mirroring the mood in the United Kingdom, the family's lowest approval was during the mid-1980s to 1990s, when the children of the monarch were enduring their divorces and were the targets of negative tabloid reporting.

Despite the official references, the existence of a Canadian Royal Family is contested, mostly by individuals in Canada's fringe republican movement, but also by former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Iona Campagnolo. Canadian poet George Elliott Clarke publicly mused about a fully First Nations royal family.

Residences and royal household

Main article: Government Houses of Canada

Rideau Hall, the monarch's principal Canadian residence, though foremostly that of the Governor General.

A number of buildings across Canada are reserved by the Crown for the use of the monarch and her viceroys. The sovereign's primary official residence, as well as that primarily used by the Governor General, is Rideau Hall, located in Ottawa, Ontario, and another principal residence of the Governor General is the Citadelle, in Quebec City. Each of these residences holds pieces from the Crown Collection, made up of antique and contemporary furniture and works of art from each province and territory of Canada, as well as Europe, Asia, and other regions, the majority of which came from donations to the Canada Fund. The provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island also maintain residences, used primarily by the respective lieutenant-governor, though the monarch or other members of the Royal Family will reside there when in the province.

The Governor General's residence at La Citadelle.

Though never used, Hatley Castle in British Columbia was purchased in 1940 by King George VI in Right of Canada to use as his home during the course of World War II; it was used instead for Royal Roads Military College. Another war-time residence was the Emergency Government Headquarters, built at CFS Carp, completed in 1959, and decommissioned in 1994; the facility included a residential apartment for the sovereign or Governor General in the case of a nuclear attack on Ottawa.

The aforementioned buildings and artworks belong, or belonged, to the Crown; they are held in trust for future rulers, and cannot be sold by the monarch. However, monarchs have owned homes and land in Canada in a private capacity: King Edward VIII owned Bedingfield Ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta, and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, also owned Portland Island between its gifting to her during a trip to the province in 1958 and her death in 2002. However, after lengthy correspondence between the Lieutenant Governor and Kensington Palace, she offered it on permanent loan to the Crown in Right of British Columbia in 1966, and the island and surrounding waters eventually became Princess Margaret Marine Park. As it is convention to conceal royal wills from public view, it is unknown as to whom the island was bequeathed by the Princess after her passing.

To assist the Queen in carrying out her official duties on behalf of Canada, she appoints various people to her Canadian household. Along with the Canadian Secretary to the Queen, the monarch's entourage includes two Ladies-in-Waiting, the Canadian Equerry-in-Waiting to the Queen, the Queen's Police Officer, the Duke of Edinburgh's Police Officer, the Queen's Honorary Physician, the Queen's Honorary Dental Surgeon, and the Queen's Honorary Nursing Sister– the latter three being drawn from the Canadian Forces. There are also three Household Regiments specifically attached to the Royal Household (the Governor General's Foot Guards, the Governor General's Horse Guards, and the Canadian Grenadier Guards), as well as two Chapels Royal in Ontario– the The Queen's Chapel of the Mohawks, built in 1785 in Brantford, and Christ Church, Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks, founded in 1784 and rebuilt in 1843 near Deseronto. Both were granted the status of Royal Chapel by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

History

Main article: History of monarchy in Canada

Francis I of France; established colonies in Acadia and Canada, 1534.

The Canadian monarchy can trace its ancestral lineage back to the kings of the Angles and the early Scottish kings, through centuries since parts of the territories that today comprise Canada were claimed by King Francis I in 1534, and others by Queen Elizabeth I in 1583; both are blood relatives of the current Canadian monarch. Though the first French and British colonizers of Canada interpreted the hereditary nature of some indigenous North American chieftainships as a form of monarchy, it is generally accepted that Canada has been a territory of a monarch or a monarchy in its own right only since the establishment of New France.

Throughout the 18th century, via war and treaties, the Canadian colonies of France were ceded to King George III and added to the then existing British colonies, which greatly expanded in population after Americans loyal to the British Crown fled north from persecution during and after the American Revolution. These lands were confederated by Queen Victoria in 1867 to form Canada as a kingdom in its own right, and, after Canadian nationalism gained fortitude following the First World War, and other Dominions of the British Empire were similarly inspired, an agreement was reached amongst the various governments to alter the way the Crown functioned in the various jurisdictions, resulting in the uniquely Canadian monarchy's creation through the Statute of Westminster, which was granted Royal Assent in 1931. Only five years later, Canada had three successive kings in the space of one year, with the death of George V, the accession and abdication of Edward VIII, and his replacement by George VI.

Edward VIII had already begun to carry out official duties specifically as King of Canada, and his brother and successor followed suit, becoming the first reigning monarch of Canada to tour the country (though previous kings had done so before their accession). As the ease of travel increased, visits by the sovereign and other Royal Family members became more frequent and involved, seeing Queen Elizabeth II officiate at such moments as the opening of parliament in 1957 and 1977, the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, the Canadian Centennial in 1967, the opening of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the 500th anniversary of Cabot's landing at Bonavista; and more. One of the most important of those events was when the country was proclaimed fully independent, via constitutional patriation, by Elizabeth II in 1982. That act is said to have entrenched the monarchy in Canada, due to the stringent requirements, as laid out in the amending formula, that must be met in order to alter the monarchy in any way.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, the rise of Quebec nationalism and changes in Canadian identity created an atmosphere where the purpose and role of the monarchy came into question. Some references to the monarch and the monarchy were removed from the public eye, and moves were made by the federal government to constitutionally alter the Crown's place and role in Canada; but, provincial and federal ministers, along with loyal national citizen's organisations, ensured that the system remained essentially the same. Still, by 2002, the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the royal tour and associated fêtes for the jubilee proved popular with Canadians.

Debate

Main article: Debate on the monarchy in Canada

To date, there has been little national debate centring on the Canadian monarchy, though many Canadians also continue to be unaware that the Queen serves as their head of state; a 2002 EKOS poll found that only five percent of the population could correctly identify Elizabeth II as their head of state (the majority believing it to be the Prime Minister). Where debate does exist, it tends to be a largely academic one, and books have been written that explore the subject from a political science perspective.

Neither of Canada's two most prominent political parties, the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party, is officially in favour of abolishing the monarchy; though the latter makes support for constitutional monarchy a founding principle in its policy declaration. The New Democratic Party (NDP) has no official position on the role of the monarchy, while the leaders of the Bloc Québécois are vocally opposed to the Crown. Some Members of Parliament, after having pledged allegiance to the Queen, have occasionally voiced in public their favouritism for a republic, following former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley's 2002 calls for the abolition of the monarchy.

Though it was not the case prior to the 1960s, shifting attitudes in Quebec nationalism have made it the one province that has recently shown significant republican sentiment; the Parti Québécois has, like its federal counterpart, at times expressed hostility to the institution of the monarchy. However, as the party views Quebec sovereignty as a more pressing concern, and sees the Crown as a purely federal institution (despite the existence of the Crown in Right of Quebec), it has tended to decline comment on the issue. Canada has two special-interest groups representing the debate, who frequently argue the issue in the media: the Monarchist League of Canada and Citizens for a Canadian Republic. There are also other loyal organizations, such as the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, and the Orange Order in Canada.

See also

Canada

• Monarchism in Canada
• List of Canadian monarchs
• Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada
• National symbols of Canada
• Court system of Canada
• Queen's Beasts

Other

• States headed by Elizabeth II
• Prime Ministers of Queen Elizabeth II
• List of Commonwealth visits made by Queen Elizabeth II
• Dominion
• Current Commonwealth realms
• Monarchies in the Americas
• List of monarchies

Other realms: royal family

• British Royal Family

Bibliography

• Benoit, Paul (2002). "The Crown and the Constitution". Canadian Parliamentary Review. 25 (2).
• Bousfield, Arthur; Toffoli, Gary (1991), Royal Observations: Canadians and Royalty, Hamilton: Dundurn Press, ISBN 1550020765
• Canadian Press (2002), Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family in Canada (Golden Jubilee), Toronto: Quarry Heritage, ISBN 1550823019
• Coates, Colin (2006), Majesty In Canada: Essays On The Role Of Royalty, Hamilton: Dundurn Press, ISBN 1550025864
• Forsey, Eugene (2005), How Canadians Govern Themselves (PDF) (6 ed.), Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, ISBN 0-662-39689-8
• MacLeod, Kevin S. (2008), A Crown of Maples: Constitutional Monarchy in Canada, Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada, ISBN 978-0-662-46012-1
• McCulloch, Tony, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King and the British Royal Visit to the USA in 1939
• McKinnon, Frank (1976), The Crown in Canada, Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Institute, ISBN 9780771210167
• Monet, Jacques (1979), The Canadian Crown, Toronto-Vancouver: Clarke, Irwin & Company Ltd., ISBN 0772012520
• Munro, Kenneth (1977). "The Crown and French Canada: The role of the Governors-General in Making the Crown relevant, 1867-1917". Imperial Canada. The University of Edinburgh: 109–121. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Munro, Kenneth (2001). "Canada as Reflected in her Participation in the Coronation of her Monarchs in the Twentieth Century". Journal of Historical Sociology. 14: 21–46. doi:10.1111/1467-6443.00133. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Noonan, Peter (1998), The Crown and Constitutional Law in Canada, Toronto: Sripnoon Publications, ISBN 0968353401
• Smith, David E. (1997). "Republics, Monarchies and the Old Dominions". Canadian Parliamentary Review. 20 (4).
• Smith, David E. (1995), The Invisible Crown: The First Principle of Canadian Government, Toronto-Buffalo-London: University Of Toronto Press, ISBN 0802077935
• Smith, David E. (1999), The Republican Option in Canada: Past and Present, Toronto-Buffalo-London: University Of Toronto Press, ISBN 0802044697
• Tasko, Patti (2007), Canada's Queen: Elizabeth II: A Celebration of Her Majestys Friendship with the People of Canada, Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0470154446
• Tidridge, Nathan; Guthrie, Gavin (2007), The Canadian Monarchy: Exploring the role of Canada's Crown in the day-to-day life of our country, Toronto: Monarchist League of Canada, ISBN 0-9781853-0-7
• Toporoski, Richard (1995). "The Invisible Crown Revealed". Monarchy Canada. Toronto: Monarchist League of Canada.
• Vaughan, Frederick (2004), Canadian Federalist Experiment: From Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant Republic, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 0773525378

External links

Official sites from the Canadian government

• Canadian government website for the Canadian Monarchy
• Canada: A Constitutional Monarchy from the Government of Canada
• 2005 Royal Tour official website
• Golden Jubilee Celebrations in Canada
• Template:PDFlink
• Writing to the Canadian Royal Family

Other external links

• Buckingham Palace website for the Canadian Monarchy
• Maple Leaf Web: The Monarchy in Canada
• Learning About the Canadian Crown Website
• The Canadian Crown
• The Unofficial Website of the Canadian Monarchy
• Queen & Country: Enduring Loyalties (contains footage on the subject of Elizabeth II's relationship with Canada)
• Film footage of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada
• CBC Digital Archives: Expodition: The royal treatment
• The Royal Collection: Film footage of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in Canada, 1951
• CBC Digital Archives: Their Majesties in Canada
• Film footage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Canada, 1939