Her Majesty The Queen, about to visit Australia

[McClef]

Darn you beat me to it!

It's not retrospective so the scenario referenced by Mike could not happen (and Peter would be before Zara in any case).

The difference will not be seen if William and Kate have a girl first but only if they afterwards have a boy who would previously have displaced his elder sister.

[Chas]

According to the Canadian Government, when I asked them last year, The official name of Canada is "The Dominion of Canada"

Regards

Chas

[Peter Crowe]

According to the Canadian Government, when I asked them last year, The official name of Canada is "The Dominion of Canada"

Regards

Chas

What you say is true of Canada, and was true of New Zealand but their government prefer to let it fall in to disuse. In any event the term Dominion wasn't universal. Australia and the Bahamas are 'Commonwealths', and India (1947-1950), and South Africa (c.1910-1961) were 'Unions'. Ireland was the Irish Free State from 1921 until 1937 when it changed it's name to simply Ireland (Eire), and pretty much wrote the King-Emperor out of it's Constitution although it did not formally become a republic and leave the Commonwealth until 1949. It's official English language name is still Ireland but it is often referred to as the Republic of Ireland in the UK (to avoid confusion with Northern Ireland).

It was normal for my grandfather's generation to refer to the 'Self Governing Dominions of the Empire', but as each country has it's own Independent Crown (stemming from the Statute of Westminster 1931) the term Dominion denotes subject status to the United Kingdom, which is no longer the case.

[Peter Crowe]

Mike,
I am happy to drink the loyal toast anytime!

However, I doubt this proposed change to the Act of Succession (1701) has anything to do with the EU which has various member states which are constitutional monarchies (UK, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, and Sweden). Of these only Sweden has gone to (eldest child) primogeniture over male primogeniture, although the Norwegians (outside the EU) have followed the Swedes.
This first came up around 20 years ago when it was proposed by Lord (Geoffrey) Archer, and both the Queen herself and UK governments of right and left have made generally supportive noises. The complexity is securing the consent and a workable timeline from all the Commonwealth realms (they are not called Dominions anymore), for something that while of public interest is a low political priority.

First of all apologies to the OP for taking the thread on this tangent but I just wanted to correct what I previously posted (believing it to be true at the time). According to the BBC there are more Constitutional Monarchies in Europe that have changed their laws of succession in favour of the oldest child regardless of sex from the previous practice of male primogeniture than what I stated above. These are all in Northern Europe; (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg).

Sorry to post duff information on the above, that's what comes of relying on memory rather than thoroughly checking to make sure my information was fully current and up to date. In any case, I doubt it has anything to do with either the EU or the larger Council of Europe, and a lot more to do with the prevailing Spirit of the Age.

[Mike_Oettle]

Just to clarify things, Peter, while the four self-governing colonies (each with its own parliament until that time) that came together in 1910 formally styled themselves the Union of South Africa, there was no doubt in the mind of the government (leaving aside the republican faction) that the country was in fact a British Dominion.
And Dominion status became even more important following the Act of Westminster, because it meant that South Africa (like Canada, Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand) became a sovereign state equal in status to Great Britain.
Also remember that under British rule (up to 1947), India was not a Dominion. It took up that status at independence, but quickly wriggled out of it, becoming a republic within the Commonwealth in 1950. Pakistan took a bit longer, only becoming a republic in 1956.
Until 1950 the concept of a republic within the Commonwealth was unthinkable (which is why Éire ducked out on becoming a full-scale republic).
But in the mind of the apartheid government, adopting the status of a republic within the Commonwealth was too much like kow-towing. It wanted out completely, because it did not want the “Club” to tell it how to run the country.
The “Club” likewise did not want to permit apartheid South Africa to continue under its ægis.
The referendum which brought about the Republic of South Africa was in fact contrary to law, because it permitted only white people to vote (Coloured men in the Cape Province still possessed a parliamentary franchise) and it extended the franchise to white residents of South West Africa, a country which never did become part of South Africa, even though at the time it had MPs sitting in Parliament in Cape Town.
The outcome was the result of knoeierey and verneukery, and it put a question mark on South Africa’s international legitimacy for the next three decades.
While these last remarks are entirely off on a tangent, I thought I should add that even before the National Party came to power in 1948, South Africa was running contrary to international opinion: Prime Minister Jan Smuts, who had helped found the League of Nations and the United Nations (and had a key role in transforming the British Empire into the Commonwealth) was already defying the UN by telling it that it had no business in South West Africa.
Getting back on topic, I am proud of having been born a subject of King George VI, and retain my affection for and loyalty to his daughter, the first and only British sovereign to bear the title Queen of South Africa.
Regards,
Mike

[Peter Crowe]

J
Getting back on topic, I am proud of having been born a subject of King George VI, and retain my affection for and loyalty to his daughter, the first British sovereign to bear the title Queen of South Africa.
Regards,
Mike

I think we are on the same page Mike, I was just trying to highlight the fact that the term Dominion is falling out of use, especially in New Zealand.

As to King George VI, I have long admired him (and long before 'The King's Speech' came out) because he was a plain, shy and modest man who went on to sacrifice his personal happiness (despite full knowledge of his own limitations) to do his duty and assume the Throne following the Abdication Crisis. I also admire that George VI chose to stay at home during the darkest days of the war when his government and advisors were urging him to go to Canada as a place of safety.

Sentiment also plays a part, as my late grandfather was commissioned by George VI (I have the scroll in the next room) when his wartime commission was made regular in 1946. Both my parents were born during his reign, my father in October 1939 and my late mother in December 1945. My father, then a 12 year old pupil at the Duke of York's School in Dover was part of the detachment sent to London to take part in King George's funeral procession in February 1952.

I very much admire Queen Elizabeth II too, in fact I would go so far as to say that our present Queen and her late father have probably been the best monarchs of both Scotland and England since the Union of the Crowns in 1603.