Queen of Australia

Image:Ac.queenofaustralia.jpg The title Queen of Australia has existed since 1973, when the Parliament of Australia passed the Royal Style and Titles Act (1973). This act repealed sections of the Royal Style and Titles Act (1953), which had been passed at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the Throne.

In the 1953 Act, Elizabeth's Australian style and titles were specified to be:

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Australia and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Under the 1973 Act her Australian style and titles became:

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.

(It should be noted that "the Commonwealth" in this context is not the Commonwealth of Australia, but the Commonwealth of Nations, of which Australia is a member and the Queen is the Head.)

It will be noted that the title "Defender of the Faith" was deleted by this Act from the Queen's Australian style and titles. In the United Kingdom the Church of England is a state church, and the Queen is its "Supreme Governor." Australia has no state church, and neither the Queen nor the Governor-General have any official connection with the Anglican Church of Australia.

The Australia Act of 1986 severed all legal and political ties with the United Kingdom. This established Australia as a monarchy completely separate from the monarchy of the United Kingdom, linked only by the fact that they happen to share the same monarch, along with the fourteen other Commonwealth Realms.

Image:Australia-Royal-Standard-(22-31).svg

The Act of Settlement of 1701, originally an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, is usually held to be the law outlining the line of succession for the Australian Crown, although the Act has never been formally adopted as Australia law. This Act provides that only Protestant descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, who have not, furthermore, married a Catholic, can succeed to the Throne.

Some Australians feel this Act is in conflict with Australian law preventing discrimination on grounds of religion, but this issue has never been tested. However, the principle has been tested elsewhere. In Toronto, Canada, Toronto city councillor Tony O'Donohue launched a court action in 2002 arguing that the Act of Settlement violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, an example of opposition against Monarchy in Canada.)

The Queen assumes the role of Queen of Australia either when she is present in Australia, or when she performs certain functions or attends certain ceremonies outside Australia at the request of Her Australian Government. In her absence, and indeed even when she is in Australia, a Governor-General wields the constitutional powers of the Crown in Australia. The Governor-General is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia.

External links

• Royal Styles and Titles Act
• The Australian Monarchist League
• Australians for Constitutional Monarchy

See also

• Australians for Constitutional Monarchy
• Monarchy in Canada
• Australian Constitution
• Australian republicanism

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom	Image:Royal-Cypher-Eliz-2-Gold.svg
Ancestry: Descent | Ancestors
Commonwealth: Prime Ministers | Queen of Canada | Queen of Australia | Queen of New Zealand
Overseas Visits: State visits | Commonwealth visits
Titles: British titles and honours | Commonwealth titles and honours
Public Celebrations: Silver Jubilee | Golden Jubilee | Queen's Official Birthday

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