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Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used inCommonwealth realms to describe aminister of the reigning sovereign orviceroy. The term indicates that the minister servesat His Majesty's pleasure, andadvises the sovereign or viceroy on how to exercise theCrown prerogatives relating to the minister's department orministry.
In Commonwealth realms, the sovereign or viceroy is formally advised by a larger body known as aprivy council orexecutive council, though, in practice, they are advised by a subset of such councils: the collective body of ministers of the Crown called theministry. The ministry should not be confused with the cabinet, as ministers of the Crown may be outside a cabinet. In theUK,ministers are theMPs and members of theBritish House of Commons orHouse of Lords who are in the government.[1]
Ministers of the Crown in Commonwealth realms have their roots inearly modern England, where monarchs sometimes employedcabinet councils consisting of ministers to advise the monarch and implemented his decisions. The termMinister came into being as the sovereign's advisors "ministered to", or served, the king. Over time, former ministers and other distinguished persons were retained as peripheral advisers with designated ministers having the direct ear of the king. This led to the creation of the larger Privy Council, with the Cabinet becoming a committee within that body, made up of currently serving ministers, who also were heads of departments.
During a period between the accession of KingJames VI ofScotland to the throne of England in 1603 andthe unification of Scotland and England in 1707, the two entities were separate kingdoms inpersonal union through the one monarch who was advised by a separate set of ministers of the Crown for each country.
As theEnglish overseas possessions and laterBritish Empire expanded, the colonial governments remained subordinate to theimperial government at Westminster, and thus the Crown was still ministered to only by theImperial Privy Council, made up of British ministers of the Crown. When Canada became aDominion in 1867, however, a separateCanadian Privy Council was established to advise theCanadian governor general on the exercise of theCrown prerogative in Canada, although constitutionally the viceroy remained an agent of the British government atWhitehall. After that date, other colonies of the empire attained Dominion status and similar arrangements were made.
Following the passage of theStatute of Westminster in 1931, however, the Dominions became effectively autonomous realms under one sovereign, thus returning the monarch to a position similar to that which existed pre-1707, where he or she was ministered to by a separate ministry for each realm. Thus, today, no minister of the Crown in anyCommonwealth realm can advise the monarch to exercise any powers pertaining to any of the other Dominions.
InSpain, during the "Restauración" period (1874–1931) the term Minister of the Crown (Spanish:Ministro de la Corona) was used for a person who was in charge of aministerial department of His Majesty's Government (Spanish:Gobierno de Su Majestad). For example, during the reign ofKing Alfonso XIII, when Carlos María Cortezo y Prieto de Orche was appointed as "Ministro de Instrucción Pública y Bellas Artes" (Minister for Public Instruction of Fine Arts), in the royal decree it was noted that he was a minister of the Crown.[2]
Nowadays, the most formal way to address a minister is as "Minister of the Government".