Privy council

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A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically in a monarchy.

The word "privy" means "private" or "secret" thus a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state.

In non-monarchical nations (e.g. the United States) the equivalent body is the "cabinet" although some nations have both a privy council organized around the monarch and a cabinet organized around the prime minister, such as the United Kingdom although here the Cabinet is technically a committee of the Privy Council.

1 United Kingdom and Commonwealth
- 1.1 Commonwealth
2 Canada
3 France
4 Others
5 See also
- 5.1 Country-related articles
6 External links
7 References

Main article: Privy Council of the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Privy Council, formally Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, consists of all the members of the Cabinet, former Cabinet ministers, and other distinguished persons appointed by the Sovereign. Its functions include issuing orders in Council, granting Royal Charters, and acting as a court of appeal from British Courts in overseas territories. ^[1] The Cabinet remains formally a committee of the Privy Council.

Historically, several other "Privy Councils" have existed in the United Kingdom. England and Scotland once had separate Privy Councils, but the Act of Union 1707, which united the two countries into Great Britain, replaced both with a single body. Ireland, on the other hand, continued to have a separate Privy Council even after the Act of Union 1800. The Irish Privy Council was abolished in 1922, when the Irish Free State separated from the United Kingdom; it was succeeded by the Privy Council for Northern Ireland, which became dormant after the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1972.

Privy Council members in the UK are called Privy Counsellors and are addressed as The Right Honourable (shortened to Rt Hon). If they are members of the peerage, they are entitled to use the post-nominal letters PC.

The equivalent organ of state in most Commonwealth Realms and some Commonwealth Republics and their constituent provinces or states is called the Executive Council. The British Privy Council is also the ultimate judiciary body - equivalent to a Supreme Court - for many Commonwealth countries that were formerly part of the British Empire (e.g. Jamaica, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago) and Britain's continuing overseas territories (e.g. Bermuda, Falkland Islands). Privy Council decisions are not binding on courts in England, but as the judges of the Privy Council are usually the same judges who sit in the House of Lords, the decisions are considered highly persuasive.

Canada has had its own Privy Council — the Queen's Privy Council for Canada — since 1867 (though while the Canadian Privy Council is specifically "for Canada," the Privy Council discussed above is not "for the United Kingdom") as does the Jamaican government, the members of whose Privy Council advise the Governor General on the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy.

Main article: Conseil du Roi

The French term conseil privé corresponds to several royal councils around the king of France during the Ancien Régime designed to prepare his decisions and give him advice.

Denmark and island-nation monarchy Tonga also have Privy Councils (see Privy Council of Denmark and [1]), as did Germany (see Geheimrat). Russia and Sweden used to have Privy Councils in the past: see Supreme Privy Council and Privy Council of Sweden. Brunei has both a cabinet and a privy council.