Title and style of the Canadian monarch

The title and style of the Canadian sovereign is the formal mode of address of the monarch of Canada. Both have varied over the years, changing with Canada's gradual independence from the United Kingdom, the present style dating from the early 17th century and the title established in 1953.

Title of the monarch

The title of the Canadian monarch, presently Elizabeth II, is as follows:

The title mentions Canada separately in order to highlight the monarch's role as Queen of Canada as distinct from that of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, as well as the shared aspect of the Crown throughout those same realms; with emphasis: "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". This format was consistent with that of the monarch's titles in the other realms, though, as of 2008, only Canada and Grenada retain this form; all others, besides the UK, have dropped the reference to the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth II refers to herself as Queen of Canada when in, or acting abroad on behalf of, Canada. For example, she stated in 1973: "But 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 1950s, the federal government has promoted the title Queen of Canada, illustrating the separation between Elizabeth II's positions as monarch of Canada and as monarch of the United Kingdom; [ [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/senate//Monarchy/SenMonarchy_15-e.htm Canada: a Constitutional Monarchy] ] [ [http://canada.gc.ca/howgoc/queen/quind_e.html Biography: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Canada] ] [ [http://www.gr.gov.sk.ca/protocol/Practice/crown_in_canada.htm The Crown in Canada] ] Prime Minister John Diefenbaker said of the style: "The Queen of Canada is a term which we like to use because it utterly represents her role on this occasion." [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937945,00.html "Time": Royal Visit; October 21, 1957] ] The title is also included in the Oath of Allegiance, which forms a part of the Oath of Citizenship.

Although the Queen's Canadian title includes the phrase "Defender of the Faith/Défenseur de la Foi", neither the Queen, nor any of the viceroys, has any religious role in Canada; there have been no established churches in the country since before Confederation. This is one of the key differences from the Queen's role in the United Kingdom, where she is Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent expanded on this topic in his 1953 speech to the House of Commons during debate on the Royal Style and Titles Act: "The rather more delicate question arose about the retention of the words defender of the faith. In England there is an established church. In our countries [the other 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 organisation 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", this does not imply any political power over member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. 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.

History

The current form of the title was the result of occasional discussion and an eventual meeting of Commonwealth representatives in London in December of 1952. Prior to this, the title had simply been the same as that in the United Kingdom and, earlier, France; though, after the 1931 Statute of Westminster severed legislative ties between Canada and the United Kingdom, the Canadian parliament had to pass its own Royal Style and Titles Act in 1947 to remove the term "Emperor of India" from the King's title in Canada, which became effective, by Order-in-Council, on June 22, 1948. [ [http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/hist/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=9690 Documents on Canadian External Relations; Volume #14 - 1, Chapter 1, Part I; Royal Style and Titles] ]

In the discussions amongst the Commonwealth prime ministers in 1952, Canada's then Prime Minister, Louis St. Laurent, stated that it was important the new title format agreed on by all the realms "emphasize the fact that the Queen is Queen of Canada, regardless of her sovereignty over other Commonwealth countries." Canada's preferred format for the monarch's title 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", similar to the format the government had suggested as early as 1949: "George the Sixth, by the Grace of God, of Canada and the other nations of the British Commonwealth, King". [ [http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=8613 Documents on Canadian External Relations; Volume #15 - 2; Chapter 1, Part 2, Royal Style and Titles] ] However, Australia wished to have the United Kingdom mentioned as well; [ [http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefId=3498 Documents on Canadian External Relations; Volume #18 - 2; Chapter 1, Part 2, Royal Style and Titles] ] thus, the resolution was a title that included the United Kingdom but, for the first time, also mentioned Canada, and the other Commonwealth realms, separately.

When the House of Commons debated the Queen's title in 1953, St. Laurent asserted on the nature of the separate and shared characteristics of the Crown: "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." [http://www.crht.ca/LibraryShelf/QueenofCanada.html Canadian Royal Heritage Trust] , Hansard February 3, 1953, page 1566] After this, the Canadian parliament passed a new Royal Style and Titles Act, which was granted Royal Assent and proclaimed by Governor General Vincent Massey on May 29, 1953. [http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoParl/english/issue.htm?param=160&art=287 Trepanier, Peter; "Canadian Parliamentary Review": Some Visual Aspects of the Monarchical Tradition; Vol. 27, No. 2; 2004] ] A subsequent Royal Style and Titles Act was passed in 1985, though it did not alter the Queen's title in any way.

Chronology of titles

From the time of the first settlement of Europeans in the territories that today comprise Canada, the monarchs who reigned over the colonies and later the country have used various titles and styles. Starting with the landing of John Cabot on either Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island, the titles have evolved as follows:¹ Queen Victoria is regarded as being the first monarch of Canada, having created Confederation in 1867.
² Upon Confederation the newly formed federal government was made bilingual.
³ As the Statute of Westminster, 1931, disallowed the applicability of any law passed at Westminster to Canada, the Canadian parliament passes its first separate Royal Style and Titles Act in 1948 to bring the King's title in Canada in line with the change to his title in the United Kingdom.
⁴ Queen Elizabeth II was the first Canadian monarch to be titled as "Queen of Canada".

tyle 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, however, "Majesty" became the official style, to the exclusion of all others. It was then brought to North America during colonial times, through usage in reference to the British monarch, who then had sovereignty over the colonies on that continent. Its usage has continued since Canada became a kingdom in its own right in 1867, [cite web
url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kingdom|title= Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition|accessdate= 2008-03-23|author=|publisher= Merriam-Webster, Inc.|pages=|quote= 2: a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen.] [cite web
url= http://www.pch.gc.ca/special/royalvisit/ENGLISH.pdf|title= Canada|accessdate= 2008-03-23|author=Department of Canadian Heritage|publisher= Queen's Printer|pages=6|quote= Canada has long been a monarchy - under the kings of France in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, under the British crown in the 18th and 19th centuries, and as a kingdom in her own right from Confederation onward.] 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 passports 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.

ee also

* Canadian honorifics
* List of titles and honours of Queen Elizabeth II
* Style of the British Sovereign
* Style of the French sovereign
* List of Canadian monarchs

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/fr-rf/titre_e.cfm 1953 Act respecting the Royal Style and Titles]
* [http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/R-12 1985 Act respecting the Royal Style and Titles]
* [http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page5658.asp Buckingham Palace: The Royal Family: Style and Titles of the Queen]