Editing Commonwealth realm (section)

==Titles==
{{See also|List of titles and honours of Charles III|Royal Style and Titles Act}}
[[File:1902 Colonial Conference.jpg|thumb|Delegates at the [[1902 Colonial Conference|Colonial Conference of 1902]]]]

Until the early part of the 20th century, the monarch's title throughout the [[British Empire]] was determined exclusively by the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. As the [[dominion]]s gained importance, the British government began to consult their governments on how the monarch should be titled. Ahead of the [[coronation of King Edward VII]] in 1902, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, [[Joseph Chamberlain]], suggested the King have the title ''King of Great Britain and Ireland and of Greater Britain Beyond the Seas''. Canadian officials preferred explicitly mention of the dominions: ''King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, King of Canada, Australasia, South Africa and all the British Dominions Beyond the Seas'', or, more simply, ''King of all the British Dominions Beyond the Seas''. The King favoured the latter suggestion, which was adopted as ''[Edward VII] of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King''.{{sfn|Twomey|2006|p=104}}

By 1926, following the issuance of the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926|Balfour Declaration]], it was determined that the changes in the nature of the Empire needed to be reflected in King [[George V]]'s title (something the King felt to be a "bore"). This led to the ''[[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927]]''; though, again, this applied one title to the King across the whole Empire. The preamble to the ''[[Statute of Westminster 1931]]'' established the convention requiring the consent of all the dominions' parliaments, as well as that of the United Kingdom, to any alterations to the monarch's style and title. This first came into play when the ''Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act'' was amended in 1948, by domestic law in Britain and each of the dominions, to remove [[George VI]]'s title ''Emperor of India''. Within the year, discussions about rewording the monarch's title began again when Ireland repealed [[Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936|legislation]] conferring functions on the king. The governments of Pakistan and Canada this time wanted more substantial changes, leading South Africa and Ceylon to also, along with Pakistan, request the elimination of the terms ''grace of God'' and ''defender of the faith''; ''by the will of the people'' was suggested as a replacement. All that was agreed at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in 1949 was that each of George VI's countries should have a different title, but with common elements, and it would be sufficient for each realm's parliament to pass a local law.{{sfn|Twomey|2006|pp=104–105}}
[[File:Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Economic Conference.jpg|thumb|left|Queen [[Elizabeth II]] with the Commonwealth prime ministers during [[1952 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Economic Conference|their conference]] in December 1952]]

The matter went unresolved until Elizabeth II became queen in 1952, upon which the realms issued their respective [[Accession day|accession]] proclamations using different titles for their monarch. Debate ensued thereafter. The Australian government preferred that the monarch's title name all of the realms, but said it would accept ''Elizabeth II (by the Grace of God) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, [name of realm], and all of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth (Defender of the Faith)''. The South African government objected, stating that did not express the equality of status among the realms. Canadian officials wanted the word ''queen'' to precede the name of the realm so as to form the term ''Queen of Canada'', which they felt expressed Elizabeth's distinct role as Canada's sovereign. There was even discussion about the placement of a comma following the Queen's name and [[regnal number]], with the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations advising the use of punctuation was appropriate, as the term ''by the grace of God'' had been used in conjunction with the title ''king'' or ''queen'' since the reign of [[William II of England|William II]] in the 11th century, whereas it had no such association with the position of head of the Commonwealth; so, Elizabeth II was queen by the grace of God, but her position as head of the Commonwealth was a secular arrangement.

In the end, it was decided the common wording in the titles was to be ''Queen of her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth''. Regardless, Ceylon and South Africa used ''Queen of [Ceylon/South Africa] and her other Realms and Territories'', omitting ''by the grace of God'' and ''defender of the faith'', while Australia, Canada, and New Zealand opted for ''of the United Kingdom, [Australia/Canada/New Zealand] and her other Realms and Territories Queen'', keeping ''by the grace of God'' and ''defender of the faith''. Pakistan's ''Royal Style and Titles Act'' simply titled the Queen as ''Queen of the United Kingdom and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth''.<ref>{{harvnb| Twomey| 2006| pp=106–107}}</ref>

After [[Ghana]] gained independence and became a Commonwealth realm in 1957, its parliament passed the ''Royal Style and Titles Act 1957'', which followed the example of Ceylon and South Africa by giving Elizabeth the title ''Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Ghana and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth''.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/ghana/00_1957_1960_s.php| title=Ghana: Heads of State: 1957–1960| publisher=Archontology| accessdate=26 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UO8DAAAAMAAJ| last1=Rubin| first1=Leslie| last2=Murray| first2=Pauli| title=The Constitution and Government of Ghana| page=155| year=1964| publisher=Sweet & Maxwell}}</ref> Each new realm thereafter did the same. In 1973 Australia removed reference to the United Kingdom,<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Australia/Australia.aspx| title=Queen and Australia| publisher=Royal Household| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307043151/http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Australia/Australia.aspx| archive-date=7 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{citation| author=Elizabeth II| title=Proclamation| journal=Government Gazette| number=152| date=19 October 1973| page=5}}</ref> followed by New Zealand the next year.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/NewZealand/TheQueensroleinNewZealand.aspx| title=The Queen's role in New Zealand| publisher=Royal Household| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321064801/http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/NewZealand/TheQueensroleinNewZealand.aspx| archive-date=21 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/new_zealand/nz_king/| title=New Zealand: Heads of State: 1907–2021| publisher=Archontology| accessdate=26 April 2023}}</ref> By the time of Elizabeth's death in 2022, aside from the United Kingdom itself, only Canada retained mention of the United Kingdom in the monarch's title and only Canada and New Zealand retained a reference to the monarch as [[Defender of the Faith]]. The Canadian parliament, in 2023, passed legislation that removed those references.<ref name=GlobeAndMail1>{{citation| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-kings-canadian-title-dropping-defender-of-the-faith-is-break-with/| title=King's Canadian title—dropping defender of the faith—is break with tradition: Church figures, constitutional experts| last=Woolf| first=Marie| date=18 April 2023| newspaper=The Globe and Mail| accessdate=19 April 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419040201/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-kings-canadian-title-dropping-defender-of-the-faith-is-break-with/| archive-date=19 April 2023| url-status=live}}</ref> The bill received royal assent on 22 June 2023;<ref>{{Citation| url=https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-47?view=progress| author=Parliament of Canada| title=C-47 (44–1)| publisher=King's Printer for Canada| accessdate=27 June 2023}}</ref> a proclamation of the new title was issued on 8 January 2024.<ref>{{cite web |title=Proclamation Establishing for Canada the Royal Style and Titles: SI/2024-4, dated January8, 2024 |date=31 January 2024 |url=https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2024/2024-01-31/html/si-tr4-eng.html}}</ref>