The monarchy of Canada is Canada 's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. Although the sovereign is shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations , each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. However, the monarch is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
The monarch lives in the United Kingdom and, while several powers are the sovereign's alone, [ 23 ] most of the royal governmental and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the monarch's representative, the governor general of Canada.
As territories fall under the federal jurisdiction, they each have a commissioner, rather than a lieutenant governor, who represents the federal Crown-in-Council directly. All executive authority is vested in the sovereign, so the monarch's consent is necessary for letters patent and orders-in-council to have legal effect.
As well, the monarch is part of the Parliament of Canada, so royal assent is required to allow for bills to become law. While the power for these acts stems from the Canadian people through the constitutional conventions of democracy, [ 28 ] executive authority remains vested in the Crown and is only entrusted by the sovereign to the government on behalf of the people.
This underlines the Crown's role in safeguarding the rights, freedoms, and democratic system of government of Canadians, reinforcing the fact that "governments are the servants of the people and not the reverse". Canada has been described as "one of the oldest continuing monarchies in the world" of today. As a result of the conquest of New France , claims by French monarchs were extinguished and what became British North America came under the hegemony of the British monarchy which ultimately evolved into the Canadian monarchy of today.
