The phrase
Her Majesty's Government (
His Majesty's Government during the reign of a male monarch) is a synonym for the
governments of various jurisdictions within the
Commonwealth realms. In use since at least the height of the
British Empire, the phrase has been inherited and integrated into the countries that emerged from that polity.
History
In the
British Empire, the term
His (or Her) Majesty's Government was originally only used by the
imperial government in
London. As the Empire developed into the
Commonwealth of Nations, the former
Dominions came to be seen as realms of the sovereign equal in status to the
United Kingdom, and, from the 1920s and 1930s, the form
His Majesty's Government in... began to be used by United Kingdom and Dominion governments to differentiate between independent jurisdictions, such as
His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State. Colonial, state, and provincial governments, on the other hand, continued to use the lesser title
Government of region, and eventually the phrase used in the former Dominions altered to mirror that of the UK, becoming, for example,
Her Majesty's Australian Government.
Usage
for the
Government of the United Kingdom, showing the abbreviation
HM for
Her Majesty's]]
The term is employed in order to signify that the government of a Commonwealth realm or, less commonly, a division thereof, belongs to the reigning sovereign, and not to the
cabinet or
prime minister, though individual governments (also known as
ministries) may be identified by reference to the prime minister who chairs the cabinet at the time; the
Attlee government, or
Manley government, for example.
Today, however, most Commonwealth realm governments, other than that of the UK (where the abbreviation
HMG is frequently used), have reverted to predominantly using the form
Government of region, with
Her Majesty's Government being typically employed in formal circumstances. Within federations, such as
Canada and
Australia, disambiguation between federal, provincial, or state governments is sometimes required for instance, a 1989
Canadian Supreme Court decision refers to "Her Majesty's Government for the Province of
Nova Scotia" while in foreign affairs a national qualifier can be employed to differentiate between the governments of different countries under the same monarch;
Her Britannic Majesty's Government for example.
See also
References