The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge will open Parliament today after the Queen had to pull out due to mobility issues. They will be acting as Counsellors of State, but what exactly does that mean?
Counsellors of State are individuals empowered by the Sovereign to discharge royal functions under section 6 of the Regency Act 1937. Unlike a Regent, who exercises the full panoply of the Crown’s power, Counsellors of State are meant to handle routine business such as signing state documents or holding meetings of the Privy Council.[1] The Monarch ultimately decides what they can and cannot do, though section 6(1) of the 1937 Act states that the Sovereign can’t delegate the power to dissolve Parliament (except on their express instructions) or create new peerages.[2] Modern convention also dictates that Counsellors of State don’t handle business from the Commonwealth Realms.[3]
When George…
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