List of Canadian monarchs

This page lists those monarchs who have reigned over Canada since Confederation in 1867, at which time the country was deemed to have become a kingdom in its own right.PDFlink| [http://www.pch.gc.ca/special/royalvisit/ENGLISH.pdf The Crown in Canada] |376 KiB ]

However, though the country became self-governing Dominion within the British Empire in 1867, the concept of the state being in a full personal union with the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms did not emerge until the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. [Zines, "The High Court and the Constitution", 4th ed. (1997) at 314: "The Queen as monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is in a position resembling that of the King of Scotland and of England between 1603 and 1707 when two independent countries had a common sovereign"; the relationship between England and Scotland during those years is described as a personal union.] [cite journal|title = The Status of the British Commonwealth in International Law|author = P. E. Corbett|journal = The University of Toronto Law Journal|volume = 3|number = 2|date = 1940|url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0042-0220%281940%293%3A2%3C348%3ATSOTBC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J|pages = 348–359|year = 1940|issue = 2|doi = 10.2307/824318] [cite journal|title = The End of Dominion Status|author = F. R. Scott|journal = The American Journal of International Law|volume = 38|number = 1|date = January 1944|pages = 34–49|url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300%28194401%2938%3A1%3C34%3ATEODS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B|doi = 10.2307/2192530] [ [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1999/30.html R v Foreign Secretary; Ex parte Indian Association, QB 892 at 928; as referenced in High Court of Australia: Sue v Hill [1999] HCA 30; 23 June 1999; S179/1998 and B49/1998] ] Since that time, the Canadian Crown has been recognized as legally distinct from the crowns of the other Commonwealth realms, meaning that Canada has a distinct national monarch. [The English Court of Appeal ruled in 1982, while "there is only one person who is the Sovereign within the British Commonwealth... in matters of law and government the Queen of the United Kingdom, for example, is entirely independent and distinct from the Queen of Canada." [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1999/30.html R v Foreign Secretary; Ex parte Indian Association, QB 892 at 928; as referenced in High Court of Australia: Sue v Hill [1999] HCA 30; 23 June 1999; S179/1998 and B49/1998] ] Still, though the term "King of Canada" was used as early as the beginning of the reign of George VI, it was not until 1953 that the style was made official; Elizabeth II was the first monarch to be separately proclaimed as Queen of Canada, by the Royal Style and Titles Act.

For a longer list of monarchs of territories that today comprise Canada, see: .

Monarchs of Canada

List of Royal Consorts of Canada

A royal consort is the spouse of a ruling king or queen. Consorts of Canadian monarchs have no constitutional status or power, but are members of the Canadian Royal Family, and may have significant influence over their husband or wife.

In the United Kingdom, all female consorts have had the right to and have held the title of Queen Consort; as Canada does not have laws laying out the styles of any Royal Family members besides the monarch, they are accorded the same title as they hold in the UK as a courtesy title. Prince Philip, husband of Elizabeth II, does not have the title of Prince Consort.

Two sovereigns reigned over Canada without a consort: Victoria's husband, Albert, died before Confederation, and as Wallis Warfield Simpson married the Duke of Windsor after his abdication, she was never Queen Consort of Canada. Though Camilla Parker-Bowles will technically become Queen Consort, Clarence House has stated that she will be styled as Princess Consort due to public opinion regarding her relationship with the Prince of Wales.

* The consort of Queen Victoria, Albert, Prince Consort, died on December 14, 1861, while Canada was confederated on July 1, 1867.

ee also

* List of Governors General of Canada
* Monarchy of Canada
* Monarchs of Canadian territories
* History of Canada
* Prince consort
* List of current heads of state and government

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/fr-rf/confed_e.cfm Department of Canadian Heritage: Sovereigns since Confederation (1867)]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/senate/Monarchy/SenMonarchy_00-e.htm Senate of Canada: Canada, A Constitutional Monarchy]