Royal Style & Titles Act (1953)

This Act signified a change in the way that the Crown in the United Kingdom related to the Crown in other Commonwealth Realms. A similar Act was passed in the UK in March 1953 but the Act named above is purely Australian and announces the Queen’s Australian title as it was to be used until the Royal Style and Titles Act 1973 No 114 - see elsewhere on this site.

No. [32] of 1953.
AN ACT
Relating to the Royal Style and Titles.
Assented to
[Elizabeth R] [April 3rd 1953.]

WHEREAS it was recited in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster, 1931 that it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the Royal Style and Titles should, after the enactment of that Act, "require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom" :

AND WHEREAS the Style and Titles appertaining to the Crown at the time of the enactment of the Statute of Westminster, 1931 had been declared by His then Majesty King George V. in a Proclamation in pursuance of the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act, 1927 of the United Kingdom, and were, in consequence of the establishment of the Republic of India, subsequently altered with the assent as well of the Parliaments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom :

AND WHEREAS it was agreed between the Prime Ministers and other representatives of Her Majesty’ s Governments in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon assembled in London in the month of December, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-two, that the Style and Titles at present appertaining to the Crown are not in accord with current constitutional relationships within the British Common- wealth and that there is a need for a new form which would, in particular, "reflect the special position of the Sovereign as Head of the Commonwealth" :

AND WHEREAS it was concluded by the Prime Ministers and other representatives that, in the present stage of development of the British Commonwealth relationship, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position that each member country should use for its own purposes a form of the Royal Style and Titles which suits its own particular circumstances but retains a substantial element which is common to all :
AND WHEREAS it was further agreed by the Prime Ministers and other representatives that the various forms of the Royal Style and Titles should, in addition to the appropriate territorial designation, have as their common element the description of the Sovereign as "Queen of Her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth" :

AND WHEREAS it was further agreed by the Prime Ministers and other representatives that the procedure of prior consultation between all Governments of the British Commonwealth should be followed in future if occasion arose to propose a change in the form of the Royal Style and Titles used in any country of the British Commonwealth :

BE it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows :-

1. This Act may be cited as the Royal Style and Titles Act 1953.
2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
3. In this Act, "the United Kingdom" means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
4.-(1.) The assent of the Parliament is hereby given to the adoption by Her Majesty, for use in relation to the Commonwealth of Australia and its Territories, in lieu of the Style and Titles at present appertaining to the Crown, of the Style and Titles set forth in the Schedule to this Act, and to the issue for that purpose by Her Majesty of Her Royal Proclamation under such seal as Her Majesty by Warrant appoints.
(2.) The Proclamation referred to in the last preceding sub-section shall be published in the Gazette and shall have effect from the date upon which it is so published.
5. The assent of the Parliament is hereby given to the adoption by Her Majesty, for use in relation to Her other Realms and T erritories, in lieu of the Style and Titles at present appertaining to the Crown, of such Style and Titles as Her Majesty thinks fit, in accordance with the principles that were formulated by the Prime Ministers and other representatives of British Commonwealth countries assembled in London, as recited in the Preamble to this Act.

THE SCHEDULE
The Royal Style and Titles.
Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Australia and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the above is a fair print of the Bill intituled "An Act relating to the Royal Style and Titles", which has been passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, and that the said Bill originated in the House of Representatives.
[F C. Green]
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
In the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, I assent to this Act.
[JF]
[I reserve this Act for Her Majesty’s pleasure]
[W.J.McKell]
Governor-General.
[18th March] 1953.
_______________
By Authority : L. F. JOHNSTON, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.