Monarchy of the Bahamas
| Queen of the Bahamas | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Incumbent | |
 |
|
| Elizabeth II | |
| Details | |
| Style | Her Majesty |
| Heir apparent | Charles, Prince of Wales |
| First monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Formation | 10 July 1973 |
The monarchy of the Bahamas is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since the country became independent on 10 July 1973. The Bahamas share the Sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen does not personally reside in the islands, and most of her constitutional roles are therefore delegated to her representative in the country, the Governor-General of the Bahamas. Royal succession is governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701, which is part of constitutional law.
The Bahamas are one of sixteen independent nations, known as Commonwealth realms, which separately recognise the Queen as their individual monarch and head of state. Despite sharing the same person as their respective monarch, each of the Commonwealth realms — including the Bahamas — 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, the Bahamas have a common monarchy with Britain and the other Commonwealth realms, and though laws governing the line of succession to the Bahamian throne lie within the control of the Bahamian Parliament, the Bahamas 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.
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