Queen of Grenada | |
---|---|
Incumbent | |
Elizabeth II | |
Details | |
Style | Her Majesty |
Heir apparent | Charles, Prince of Wales |
First monarch | Elizabeth II |
Formation | 7 February 1974 |
The monarch of Grenada is the head of state of Grenada. The present monarch is Elizabeth II, who is also Sovereign of a number of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen's constitutional roles are mostly delegated to the Governor-General of Grenada. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, which is part of constitutional law.
One of the most complicated features of the Grenadian Monarchy is that it is a shared monarchy. Fifty-four states are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Sixteen of these states are specifically Commonwealth realms who recognise the same person as their separate Monarch and Head of State. Grenada is one of these. Despite sharing the same person as their respective monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms, including Grenada, is sovereign and independent of the others.
The Balfour Declaration of 1926 provided the dominions the right to be considered equal to Britain, rather than subordinate; an agreement that had the result of, in theory, a shared Crown that operates independently in each realm rather than a unitary British Crown under which all the dominions were secondary. The Monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it has often been called "British" since this time (in both legal and common language) for reasons historical, legal, and of convenience. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 was the first indication of this shift in law, further elaborated in the Statute of Westminster 1931.
Under the Statute of Westminster, Grenada has a common monarchy with Britain and the other Commonwealth realms, and though laws governing the line of succession to the Grenadian throne lie within the control of the Grenadian Parliament, Grenada cannot change the rules of succession without the unanimous consent of the other realms, unless explicitly leaving the shared monarchy relationship by means of a constitutional amendment. This situation applies symmetrically in all the other realms, including the UK.