Monarchy of New Zealand
The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, acceded to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022 in the United Kingdom. The King's elder son, William, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent.
The Treaty of Waitangi between Queen Victoria and Māori chiefs was signed on 6 February 1840. This laid the foundation for the proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand on 21 May 1840; the British monarch became New Zealand's head of state. The country gradually became independent from Britain and the monarchy evolved to become a distinctly New Zealand institution, represented by [|unique symbols]. The individual who is the New Zealand monarch is currently shared with 14 other countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, in each of which the monarchy is legally separate. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of New Zealand and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake various public and private functions across the Realm of New Zealand. The King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
All executive authority is vested in the King, and his assent is required for parliament to enact laws and for letters patent and orders in council to have legal effect. However, the King's authority is subject to the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, and his direct participation in these areas of governance is limited. Most of the related powers are instead exercised by the elected members of parliament, the ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them, and the judges and justices of the peace. Other powers vested in the King, such as dismissal of a prime minister, are significant but are treated only as reserve powers and as an important security part of the role of the monarchy.
Since the monarch resides in the United Kingdom, most of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties within the Realm of New Zealand are typically carried out by his or her representative, the governor-general of New Zealand.
The role of the monarchy is a recurring topic of public discussion. Some New Zealanders think New Zealand should become a republic with a New Zealand resident as the head of state, while others wish to retain the monarchy.
International and domestic aspects
The Realm of New Zealand is one of the Commonwealth realms, 15 independent members of the Commonwealth of Nations that share the same person as sovereign and head of state, and have in common the same royal line of succession. The monarch, currently King Charles III, resides in the oldest and most populous realm, the United Kingdom; however, he and his family have toured New Zealand on occasion.This arrangement emerged during the course of the 20th century. Since the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the pan-national Crown has had both a shared and separate character, and the sovereign's role as monarch of New Zealand has been distinct to his or her position as monarch of the United Kingdom. The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution and has become a separate establishment within New Zealand. Nonetheless, for historical reasons, the monarchy and monarch are termed "British" in both legal and common language; this conflicts with not only the New Zealand government's recognition of a distinctly New Zealand Crown, but also the sovereign's distinct New Zealand title.
On all matters pertaining to the New Zealand state, the monarch is advised solely by New Zealand ministers of the Crown, with no input from British or other realms' ministers. One of the state duties carried out on the formal advice of the New Zealand prime minister is the appointment of the governor-general. As the monarch lives outside of New Zealand, the governor-general personally represents the monarch and performs most of his or her domestic duties in their absence, in accordance with Letters Patent 1983. All royal powers in New Zealand may be carried out by both the monarch and governor-general and, in New Zealand law, the two offices are fully interchangeable, mention of one always simultaneously including the other., the current Governor-General is Dame Cindy Kiro.
Title
Before 1953, the sovereign's title was the same throughout all realms and territories. It was agreed at the Commonwealth Economic Conference in London in December 1952 that each of the Commonwealth realms, including New Zealand, could adopt its own royal titles for the monarch. The New Zealand Parliament enacted the Royal Titles Act in 1953, altering the style borne by Queen Elizabeth II and giving her the title of Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. Subsequent to the passage of the Royal Titles Act 1974, the monarch's title in New Zealand is currently Charles the Third, By the Grace of God King of New Zealand and of His Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.Although the King's New Zealand title includes the phrase 'Defender of the Faith', neither the sovereign nor the governor-general has any religious role in New Zealand; there has never been an established church in the country. This is one of the key differences from the King's role in England, where he is supreme governor of the Church of England.
Succession and regency
As the King's elder son, William, Prince of Wales, is the first in line to the throne. Succession is, for persons born before 28 October 2011, governed by male-preference cognatic primogeniture and, for those born after 28 October 2011, by absolute primogeniture—wherein succession passes to an individual's children according to birth order, regardless of sex.Laws governing the line of succession, including the Act of Settlement 1701 and Bill of Rights 1689, restrict the throne to the biological, legitimate descendants of Sophia of Hanover, and stipulate that the monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic and must be in communion with the Church of England upon accession. Through the adoption of the Statute of Westminster and the Imperial Laws Application Act 1988, these constitutional laws as they apply to New Zealand now lie within the full control of the New Zealand Parliament. Nonetheless, New Zealand agreed not to change its rules of succession without the unanimous consent of the other realms, unless explicitly leaving the shared monarchy relationship—a reciprocal arrangement applied uniformly in all the other realms, including the United Kingdom, and often likened to a treaty amongst these nations. In that spirit, the Commonwealth realms reached the Perth Agreement in 2011, committed to repeal the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which gave precedence to male heirs and excluded from succession a person married to a Roman Catholic. In New Zealand this was accomplished through the Royal Succession Act 2013.
File:Proclamation of accession ceremony for King Charles III, Wellington, New Zealand.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|alt=A group of state officials gathered outside Parliament House accompanied by heralds|New Zealand Herald Extraordinary, Phillip O'Shea, reading the proclamation of accession of Charles III on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings, 2022
Upon a demise of the Crown, the late sovereign's heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any obligatory need for affirmation or further ceremony—hence arises the phrase "The King is dead. Long live the King!" It is customary, though, for the accession of the new monarch to be publicly proclaimed at a ceremony attended by the governor-general and senior state officials. Following an appropriate period of national mourning, the monarch is also crowned in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual, but one not necessary for a sovereign to reign. Other than a transfer of all royal powers and functions to the new monarch from his or her predecessor, no other law or office is affected, as all references in legislation to previous monarchs, whether in the masculine or feminine, continue to mean the reigning sovereign of New Zealand. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she typically continues to reign until death, being unable to unilaterally abdicate.
Regency Acts allow for regencies in the event of a monarch who is a minor or who is physically or mentally incapacitated. When a regency is necessary, the next qualified individual in the line of succession automatically becomes regent, unless they themselves are a minor or incapacitated. The Regency Act 1937 is a British law, not a New Zealand law, and as such has no direct applicability to New Zealand. However, the New Zealand Constitution Act 1986 specifies that should a regent be installed in the United Kingdom, that individual will carry out the functions of the sovereign of New Zealand.