Comment posted Would an independent Scotland under the British monarchy have a Governor General? by Tony Williams.
They’re more German than they are English or Scottish! An independent republic has real appeal.
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A governor-general….and why would we need one any more than say a separate england with whom we would have a shared monarch?
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Because we would be breaking away from the rest of the UK surely?
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The position of Governor General relates to the proximity of the monarch, not to the political entity that is the UK. It is an anachronism of the days of Empire, where areas such as Australia, New Zealand or even Canada were too far away for the monarch to be able to directly exercise their duties as Head of State, so a proxy is needed.
Given that the Royal Family spend a fair amount of time in Scotland anyway, I wouldn’t have thought there was any call for a GG and I think the Independent hasn’t really thought this one through (probably still relying on “Scotch on the Rocks” as a constitutional guideline).
Personally, I would suggest having a separate monarch as Head of State in the first instance (the Princess Royal would seem a good choice) then a later referendum after independence to see if Scotland should become a republic or not. It isn’t the most pressing question though.
Whatever the eventual outcome, I would very much doubt that the monarchy would be allowed even an iota of the constitutional power in an independent Scotland that they have under the current UK constitution (small though that is).
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re the ‘Princess Royal’ as monarch and subsequent referendum for or not for a Scottish Republic do you think that will be SNP policy?
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I very much doubt it!
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The answer is to consider that Buck House, Windsor and the Sandringham pile are all no more than holiday houses, that Royal Deeside is her native habitat, and so it’s England that’ll be getting the Governor General. It’s just a question of who to send down there.
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Who said an independent scotland needs to have anything to do with the english royal family?
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I thought that they were no less Scottish than they were English, so to speak.
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They’re more German than they are English or Scottish! An independent republic has real appeal.
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In these difficult times it’s nice to see at least one example of a Greek and a German who can make a go of it together.
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Which German tribe produced the Bowes Lyons clan?
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Were Scotland to separate, you would presumably need someone to discharge the duties of head of state were the Queen not available. As the Queen’s diary wouldn’t likely change much in the event of Scotland leaving the Union, she wouldn’t be available to receive Scottish-accredited diplomats, bestow Scottish honours, etc. Governors-General aren’t “2nd XV” jobs – they are actually the ones that exercise the power as head of state. Why would you assume that Scotland would be any different to any another Commonwealth Realm? Therefore you would need a governor-general, even if you didn’t call it that. Were I Alex Salmond I’d have fought hard to establish a Scottish honours system (Order of St Andrew?) and a Scottish governor-general by now already.
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I’d suggest the Order of St. Trump.
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A few clarifications:
(1) The SNP’s draft constitution for an independent Scotland published in 2002 does not provide for a Governor-General, instead the Presiding Officer of Parliament would deputise for the ceremonial and constitutional duties of the Head of State when the Queen is absent from Scotland.
(2) While the Article is correct in its treatment of the office of Governor-General under the Australian Constitution, it does not reflect the fact that the powers and functions of office of Governor-General in the more recent Constitutions of Commonwealth nations are much more tightly defined, removing scope for such confusion. Look up the Constitutions of St Lucia or Jamaica for typical examples.
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