Queen in Right of Nova Scotia
Monarchy
Provincial/State
Royal Coat of Arms of Nova Scotia
Incumbent: Elizabeth II Queen of Canada
Style:	Her Majesty
First monarch:	Victoria
Formation:	July 1, 1867

A Nova Scotia stamp issued between 1851 and 1857 bears the Royal Crown at its centre.

The Monarchy in Nova Scotia is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, forming the core of the province's Westminster style parliamentary democracy. As the institution from which the power of the state flows, the terms Crown in Right of Nova Scotia, Her Majesty in Right of Nova Scotia, or The Queen in Right of Prince Nova Scotia may also be used to refer to the entire executive of the government of Nova Scotia. As the pinnacle of governance, the authority of the Crown in the province is symbolised through elements included in various government institutions' insignia.

Constitutional monarchy in Nova Scotia

Main article: Monarchy in the Canadian provinces

Sir John Wentworth, Governor of Nova Scotia, 1792-1808.

The Crown in Right of Nova Scotia was established with the British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), though the governments of the previous incarnations of the province, going back to the establishment of Port Royal in 1603, have been monarchical in nature, with historical links to the French, Scottish, and British Crowns. Thus, there are numerous monuments and memorials to members of the Royal Family located across the province. However, though Nova Scotia has a separate government headed by the Queen, as a province, Nova Scotia is not itself a kingdom.

The present Canadian monarch is Elizabeth II, who has reigned since February 6, 1952; as she does not reside in Nova Scotia, a vice-regal representative, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, is appointed by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, to carry out all the monarch's duties in the province, which include a vast number of functions and duties central to the provincial government, judicial system, and system of honours, as well as governing provincial Crown corporations and Crown Land, and calling Royal Commissions. Her Honour The Honourable Mayann E. Francis is the current Lieutenant Governor, having served since September 7, 2006. The viceroy is provided an official residence by the Crown: Government House in Halifax.

Though the Crown is central to the functioning of the government in Nova Scotia, members of the Royal Family predominantly perform ceremonial duties when on a tour of the province, visiting hospitals, charities, schools, communities, and the like.

History

King James VI & I, who issued the Charter of New Scotland.

The first establishment of non-indigenous monarchy was made by the French settlers led by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, Governor of Acadia under the authority of King Henry IV. One year after the establishment of the first colony at Saint Croix Island in 1604, in modern day New Brunswick, another settlement was put down at Port Royal. Some twenty years later, King Charles I issued the Charter of New Scotland, which created the Barontage of Nova Scotia and allowed William Alexander to settle the new colony.¹² By 1625, New Scotland was granted its first coat of arms by James' successor, King Charles I.

Two years later war broke out, at the end of which a charter was issued making Port Royal the first Scottish settlement in the region and made Nova Scotia a part of mainland Scotland. Through war and treaties the territories changed hands between the French and British monarchs until Queen Anne's troops retook the colony and the conquest was confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, placing all French colonists under the sovereignty of the British Crown. Because of ongoing conflicts with France elsewhere in North America, authorities sought confirmation of the Acadians' loyalty to the Crown, giving each of them one year to declare their allegiance to King George II, who had asceeded to the throne in 1714, or leave Nova Scotia. By 1730 the Acadians were forced to swear their oath again, but this time with a caveat that they would not be required to bear arms against the French or Indians; however, by 1754, with hostilities growing again in the lead-up to the Seven Years' War, the Acadians were ordered to again renew their oath, but without any reservation to fighting the French or their Mi'kmaq neighbours. The majority refused, to which the colonial authorities reacted by forcably removing thousands of the French-speaking inhabitants, and placing them on ships to various destinations. The event came to be known as the Great Upheaval.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, resided in Halifax between 1794 and 1800.

Queen Elizabeth II, tours the Fortress of Louisbourg, 1994.

During the course of, and following, the American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, some 30,000 colonists loyal to George III, known as United Empire Loyalists, fled north and re-settled in Nova Scotia, 16,000 of them in the area of the present-day province. Approximately 3,000 of these were former slaves of African ancestry, known as Black Loyalists, who were freed by decree of John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia. Three years after the cessation of hostilities, Prince William (the future King William IV), arrived in the Canadian Maritimes and spent three years in the region, including a lengthy stay in Halifax.³ His brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (father of Queen Victoria), was sent in 1794 to take command of Nova Scotia, where he designed many of Halifax's forts, oversaw the construction of numerous roads, devised a telegraph system, and left an indelible mark on the city in the form of pulblic buildings of Georgian architecture. He remains remembered for his deeds such as the construction of both St. George's Church and the town clock, as well as improvements to the Grand Parade. He departed the colony in 1800.³ It would be another sixty years before another royal visited Nova Scotia, when Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, arrived. Following him, his brother Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was stationed in Halifax from time to time between 1878 and 1883 as Commander of the Royal Navy's North Atlantic Squadron.³

Confederation came in 1867, after which the Lieutenant Governor of the newly created province of Nova Scotia became an agend of the federal government, rather than of the government at Whitehall. The third Lieutenant-Governor, Adams George Archibald, greeted Prince George (later King George V) when the ship he served on in the Royal Navy as a midshipman was in Halifax harbour. He returned, by then Duke of Cornwall, to the province with his wife, Mary, Duchess of Cornwall, as part of a cross-country tour. His uncle, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught served as Governor General from 1906 to 1912, and, with his wife and daughter, visited Nova Scotia as well.

The first reigning monarch to tour the province was King George VI, who, with his consort, Queen Elizabeth, ended their 1939 coast-to-coast trip around Canada at Halifax, where a farewell luncheon was held and the King and Queen each delivered a speech of thanks. That evening, the royal couple boarded HMS Empress of Britain to return home. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wrote in his diary: "The Empress of Britain ran past one end of the harbour where she was towed around, then came back the opposite way to pull out to sea. She was accompanied by British warships and our own destroyers. The Bluenose and other vessels also in the harbour as a sort of escort... The King and Queen were at the very top of the ship and kept waving... No farewell could have been finer..."⁴ Other royals visited Nova Scotia in the ensuing years, including George VI's daughters, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, in 1951, and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in 1958. Elizabeth returned in 1959 as monarch; her mother, the Queen Mother, came again to celebrate Canada's centennial in 1967; and Princess Alexandra arrived in Halifax in 1973 to mark the bicentennial of the arrival of the Hector, the first ship to land at Nova Scotia with Scottish colonists. Another milestone was the bicentennial, in 1983, of the arrival of the first Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia, the celebration of which was attended by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. Elizabeth II's other son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, undertook his first tour of the province in 1986, during which he visited Halifax and skippered the Bluenose II.⁵

In December 2003, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, representing Canada's monarch, declared the Crown's acknowledgement (but without an apology) of the Great Upheaval, and designated July 28 as A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval. This closed one of the longest open cases in the history of the British courts since the Acadian representatives first presented their grievances of forced dispossession of land, property, and livestock, in 1760.

Further information: History of monarchy in Canada

Royal connections

Halifax Town Clock, on Citadel Hill, commissioned by the father of Queen Victoria, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.

Nova Scotia's monarchical status is illustrated via associations between the Crown and many private organizations within the province, as well as through royal names applied to a plethora of regions, communities, schools, buildings, and monuments, many of which may also have a specific history with a member or members of the Royal Family.

One of Halifax's most prominent features is St. George's Round Church, the construction of which was begun under the direction of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, himself an amateur architect who also commissioned the Halifax Town Clock. On June 2, 1994, two boys set fire to the church, destroying 40% of it, and resulting in a rebuilding cost of $6 million. Continuing its royal connections, the fundraising effort for the restoration of St. George's received a donation from Edward's great-great-great-great-grandson, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, who had also attended service at the church in 1983. In 1994 Prince Philip visited St. George's, taking a personal interest after the fire at Windsor Castle two years earlier; the province's gift to the Queen and Duke during that visit was a $1000 donation to the restoration project.⁶ Also of royal connection is the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, and the Queen Elizabeth Park in Glace Bay.

Organizations in Nova Scotia may also be founded by a Royal Charter, receive a royal prefix, and/or be honoured with the patronage of a member of the Royal Family. Two examples are the University of King's College, founded by royal charter issued by King George III in 1802, and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, the oldest yacht club in North America, which was granted it→s royal prefix by Queen Victoria in 1837, and currently has Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as its patron.

Further information: List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage and List of Canadian organizations with royal prefix

Communities

The Crown's presence at the most local levels is demonstrated in part by royal and vice-regal namesakes chosen to be incorporated by communities across the province. Communities with royally or vice-regally associated named include:

Education

Schools across the province are also named for Canadian sovereigns, royal family members, or either federal or provincial viceroys.

Prince Andrew High School.

See also

• Monarchy of Canada
• The Canadian Crown and First Nations, Inuit and Métis
• Royal Charter: Canada
• Canadian federalism
• Symbols of Nova Scotia
• Monarchy

Notes

External links

• Office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia

v • d • e Politics of Nova Scotia The Crown Sovereign • Queen Elizabeth II Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis • Former lieutenant-governors Premier Rodney MacDonald • Former premiers • Executive Council (Cabinet) Opposition Leader Darrell Dexter • Former Opposition Leaders Legislature Current members • Former legislatures Speaker of the Assembly Alfie MacLeod Political parties Progressive Conservatives • Liberals • New Democrats • Greens Elections 2006 general election • Past elections Current issues: Equalization payments Other provinces and territories BC • AB • SK • MB • ON • QC • NB • NS • PEI • NL • YU • NT • NU

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