Royal Family

…Defender of the Faith. Elizabeth even has her own church, a sort of reformed Roman Catholicism. She’s Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the breakaway faction founded by one of her predecessors, Henry VIII, so he could divorce and marry again. Three years later, when his new bride couldn’t produce an heir, he had […]

  …And Her Other Realms and Territories… Elizabeth is hereditary Queen of 16 independent, sovereign states known as herrealms and territories, nearly all former British colonies. Members are Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Belize, Granada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and […]

  …Canada… At the 2010 Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill, Elizabeth started her speech by addressing the 100,000-strong audience as “fellow Canadians…” As a Canadian, Elizabeth is our “guardian of constitutional freedoms.” In law, she personifies the state and is the symbol of both its authority and its unity. She’s custodian of the Canadian […]

By the Grace of God… The title’s origins go back deep into the mists of time. It literally means that Elizabeth reigns over Canada and her other 15 Realms and Territories because God anointed and thus endorses her. Which presumably makes her Queen of Canada by divine right. In an increasingly secular world, acerbic tongues […]

Starting with the first words of her official title: “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.” Elizabeth the Second The first Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII, who had six wives (divorced, executed, […]