Head of the Commonwealth

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The present holder of the thrones of the Commonwealth Realms, Elizabeth II, is the second person to be recognised as Head of the Commonwealth in the 53 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. These include the sixteen Commonwealth Realms (where the person is also head of state, separately from her roles as Head of the Commonwealth), Commonwealth republics, and monarchies under another dynasty (as in Tonga, Malaysia, Swaziland, etc.).

The official French version (for use in Canada) is Chef du Commonwealth; the South African version in Afrikaans is Hoof van die Statebond (literally 'Chief of the confederation', while the common Afrikaans word for Commonwealth is Gemenebes).

1 Title
2 Position
3 History
4 Footnotes
5 See also

[edit] Title

The title was devised in 1949 (see History below), however, was not added to the holder's style until 1953. In that year, a Royal Style and Titles Act was passed separately in each of the seven Realms then existing (except Pakistan), which gave formal recognition to the separateness and the equality of the Realms by entitling the Queen as "Queen of [Realm] and her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth."

[edit] Position

The role of the "Head" of the Commonwealth is perhaps best compared to that of a ceremonial president, but for life, unlike the chairman or secretary general of any other international organization, the head of the Commonwealth is a symbol of the association - without powers to decide what the Commonwealth should do or how it should conduct its affairs, yet playing a very important role in shaping the Commonwealth.

The title is not vested in the shared Crown ^[1] However, the assumption is that the title itself would become extinct were it not held by the shared monarch, and no new suggestions have ever been put forward by any of the Commonwealth member-countries as to who, if anyone, should take on the role currently exercised by Queen Elizabeth II. In all probablity, therefore, her successor will also succeed to the role of the Head of the Commonwealth.^[2]

The Head of the Commonwealth is recognised by its members as the "symbol of their free association", attends Commonwealth Heads of Government summits and the Commonwealth Games, which are held every four years, and on every Commonwealth Day, which is the second Monday in March, broadcasts a message to all member countries.

Every two years a meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government is held, at locations throughout the Commonwealth. The Head of the Commonwealth is normally present in the host country, and has a series of private meetings with the Commonwealth countries' leaders and attends a CHOGM reception and dinner, and makes a speech there. The latest CHOGM was held in November 2005 in Malta; the next meeting will be held in 2007 in Uganda.

[edit] History

The London Declaration of 1949, devised by Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent stated that the monarch would be a symbol of the free association of independent countries, and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. These words meant that kingdoms that were not Commonwealth Realms, as well as republics, could remain members - they could accept the person as Head of the Commonwealth without him or her being the country's Head of State. Thus when the former Dominion of India became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1950, it recognised George VI as the symbol of the association, but not as its head of state.

When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 she became Head of the Commonwealth.

On her accession she said "The Commonwealth bears no resemblance to the empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace."

[edit] Footnotes

^ This refers to the Crown as shared amongst the kingdoms of the Commonwealth in a personal union relationship, and the Commonwealth's members may not agree that the next monarch after Elizabeth II should automatically succeed her as Head of the Commonwealth upon accession to the Throne.
^ The position of Head of the Commonwealth was discussed at the 1997 Edinburgh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The consensus was that the title should remain annexed to the Sovereign.