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.[1] The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² (7.3 million mi², excluding Antarctic claims), and a population of 134 million;[2] all but about two million live in the six most populous states: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Jamaica.

Fourteen of the current and all former realms were once British colonies that evolved into independent states, the exceptions being the United Kingdom (UK) itself and Papua New Guinea, which was formed in 1975 as a union of the former German New Guinea — administered by Australia as an international trusteeship before independence — and the former British New Guinea — legally the territory of Papua, administered for the UK by Australia since 1905. The first realms to emerge were colonies that had already previously attained the status of a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire.

For a time, the older term of Dominion was retained to refer to these non-British realms, even though their actual status had changed with the granting of full legislative independence. The word is still sometimes used today, though increasingly rarely, as the word realm was formally introduced with Britain's proclamation of Elizabeth II as queen in 1952 and acquired legal status with the adoption of the modern royal styles and titles by the individual countries.[1] The qualified term Commonwealth realm is not official, and has not been used in law; rather, it is a term of convenience for distinguishing this group of realms from other countries in the Commonwealth that do not share the same monarch.

Current Commonwealth realms

Country Monarchy Date[3] Queen's Title Royal Standard
Antigua and Barbuda Monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda 1981 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Antigua and Barbuda and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. None
Australia Monarchy of Australia 1942[4] Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.
The Bahamas Monarchy of the Bahamas 1973 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. None
Barbados Monarchy of Barbados 1966 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Barbados and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth
Belize Monarchy of Belize 1981 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Belize and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Canada Monarchy of Canada 1931 English: 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[5]
Grenada Monarchy of Grenada 1974 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Grenada and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Jamaica Monarchy of Jamaica 1962 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Jamaica and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth
New Zealand Monarchy of New Zealand 1947 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith
Papua New Guinea Monarchy of Papua New Guinea 1975 Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Papua New Guinea and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Saint Kitts and Nevis Monarchy of Saint Kitts and Nevis 1983 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Saint Christopher and Nevis and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Saint Lucia Monarchy of Saint Lucia 1979 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Monarchy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1979 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Solomon Islands Monarchy of the Solomon Islands 1978 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Solomon Islands and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
Tuvalu Monarchy of Tuvalu 1978 Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Tuvalu and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth None
United Kingdom Monarchy of the United Kingdom n/a[6] Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith
  1. ↑ a b . Royal Household. http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/QueenandCommonwealth/WhatisaCommonwealthRealm.aspx. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  2. ↑ Figures totaled from 2007 CIA World Fact Book
  3. ↑ Dates indicate the year of enactment of the Statute of Westminster (Canada), adoption by realm (Australia and New Zealand), or grant of independence (all others except the UK); the monarch became head of state of the particular realm on this date as a result of one of these events. The monarch had previously been head of state over the same territory by virtue of being monarch of the United Kingdom, or, in the case of Papua New Guinea, monarch of Australia.
  4. ↑ Adoption of Statute of Westminster was declared retroactive to 1939.
  5. ↑ Elizabeth II (1985). . Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada. R.S., 1985, c. R-12. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/fr/showdoc/cs/R-12/se:1::se:2/20090503/fr?page=1. Retrieved 3 May 2009. 
  6. ↑ A date is not applicable to the United Kingdom as it was the original realm from which other realms became independent.

Under the 1981 Cook Islands constitution, the Queen in Right of New Zealand is head of state of the Cook Islands, but no act passed by the Parliament of New Zealand after 1981 applies in the Cook Islands.[7] For example, any change in the laws of succession to the New Zealand throne made by New Zealand would have no effect in the Cook Islands unless separately ratified there.

Relationship of the realms

The Commonwealth realms are sovereign states, united only in the voluntary and symmetric sharing of the institution of the monarchy,[8] the succession, and the Queen herself. This grouping of countries associated in this manner has been called "an achievement without parallel in the history of international relations or constitutional law."[9] Terms such as personal union,[10][11][12][13][14] a form of personal union,[15]="scott1>Scott, F. R. (January 1944). . The American Journal of International Law (American Society of International Law) 38 (1): 34–49. . http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300%28194401%2938%3A1%3C34%3ATEODS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B. " †="†" Scott1="Scott1"/>[16] and shared monarchy, amongst others,[17] and Alexander N. Sack stated: "Whatever the future development of the British Commonwealth may be [it] can be described as a that of associations or unions of States, as distinguished from 'personal' unions, on the one hand, and federal States, on the other.[18]="elliott1>Elliott, W.Y (November 1930). . The American Political Science Review (American Political Science Association) 24 (4): 971–989. . http://jstor.org/stable/1946754.  and Alexander N. Sack stated: "Whatever the future development of the British Commonwealth may be [it] can be described as a that of associations or unions of States, as distinguished from 'personal' unions, on the one hand, and federal States, on the other.[18]" †="†" Elliott1="Elliott1"/>[19] have all been advanced as definitions since the beginning of the Commonwealth itself, though there has been no agreement on which term is most accurate,[18][19] or even whether personal union is applicable at all.[20]="miller1>Miller, J.D.B (October 1959). . The American Historical Review (Washington, DC: American Historical Association) 65 (1). " †="†" Miller1="Miller1"/>[21] The United Kingdom no longer holds any legislative power over any country besides itself, although some countries continue to use, by their own volition, the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council as part of their own judiciary; usually as the highest court of appeal.

Potential or actual conflicts of interest have arisen from this relationship amongst independent states, ranging from minor diplomatic matters — such as the monarch expressing on the advice of one of her cabinets views that counter those of another of her cabinets[22] though the Queen was evidently not representing Australia at that time. Similarly, Elizabeth II undertook a visit to Latin America to promote British goods at the same time a Canadian ministerial trip was underway in the same region in order to promote Canadian products.[23]=""citation Journal" >Cohen, Zelman (1995) (Lecture). . Sir Robert Menzies Lecture Trust. http://www.menzieslecture.org/1995.html. Retrieved 3 May 2009.  though the Queen was evidently not representing Australia at that time. Similarly, Elizabeth II undertook a visit to Latin America to promote British goods at the same time a Canadian ministerial trip was underway in the same region in order to promote Canadian products.[24]" †="†" Conf="Conf"/> — to more serious conflicts regarding matters of war, wherein the monarch may be simultaneously at war and at peace with himself as head of two hostile nations.[25] In such cases, viceroys have tended to act in manners that avoid placing the sovereign directly in the centre of the conflict, meaning that a governor-general may have to take controversial actions entirely on his or her own initiative through the exercise of the reserve powers.[26]

The Crown in the Commonwealth realms

!---This section links from Monarchy of Australia, Monarchy of Canada, Monarchy of New Zealand, Monarchy of the United Kingdom--->

The evolution of the Commonwealth realms has led to the scenario wherein the Crown has both a separate and a shared character; it is a singular institution with one sovereign, but also simultaneously operates separately within each country, with the Queen being equally a part of each state and acting in right of a particular realm as a distinct legal person guided only by the advice of the cabinet of that jurisdiction.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33] This means that in different contexts the term Crown may refer to the extra-national institution shared amongst all 16 countries, or to the Crown in each realm considered separately.[34]="Toporoski />" †="†" Toporoski="Toporoski"/> However, though the monarchy is therefore no longer an exclusively British institution,[27][33] having become "domesticated" in each of the realms,[35] it may in the media and legal fields often still be elaborated as the British Crown for reasons historical, of convenience, or political, regardless of the different, specific, and official national titles and terms used when addressing the Queen of the citizenry in each jurisdiction; for example, in Barbados the Queen is titled as Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, or simply the Queen of Barbados, with her full title making mention of her position as queen of the other Commonwealth realms. To guarantee the continuity of this arrangement, the preamble of the 1931 Statute of Westminster stipulates that any alteration to the line of succession in any one country must be voluntarily approved by the parliaments of all the realms,[36][37]=""citation news" >Cox, Noel (1998). written at Auckland University of Technology. Australian Journal of Law and Society (North Ryde: Macquarie University Press) 14 (1998/1999). 23 August 2003. . http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=420752. Retrieved 13 July 2009. " †="†" Cox="Cox"/>[38] or, alternately, a realm may choose to end its participation in the shared monarchy.

From a cultural standpoint, the shared nature of the Crown is less clear. In all realms, the sovereign's name and image and other royal symbols unique to each nation are visible in the emblems and insignia of governmental institutions and militia, leading to the argument that the Crown as a shared link between the Commonwealth realms, with the Crown in right of each country having unique domestic characteristics. The Queen's effigy, for example, appears on coins and banknotes in some countries, and an oath of allegiance to the Queen is usually required from politicians, judges, military members and new citizens. It is also asserted, however, that the Crown throughout the realms remains essentially British and primarily of the United Kingdom, despite the legal and cultural evolution of the Commonwealth since the 1930s. Indeed, by 1959 it was being asserted by Buckingham Palace officials that the Queen was "equally at home in all her realms."[39]