Her Majesty's Government

Her Majesty's Government (or, when the sovereign is male, His Majesty's Government) (HMG) is the formal title used by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the governments of some other kingdoms where executive authority is theoretically vested in the monarch and exercised through his/her ministers.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Executive authority

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In the British Empire, the term "His Majesty's Government" was originally only used by the Imperial Government in London. With the development of the Commonwealth, the self-governing Dominions came to be seen realms of the British Sovereign equal in status to the United Kingdom, and from the 1920s and 30s the form "His Majesty's Government in ..." began to be used by United Kingdom and Dominion governments. Colonial, state and provincial governments, on the other hand, continued to use the lesser title "Government of ...".

Related Topics:
British Empire - London - Commonwealth - Dominion - British Sovereign - 1920s - 30s

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Today, however, most Commonwealth governments have now reverted to the form "Government of ...", and it is today mainly in the United Kingdom that the titles "Her Majesty's Government", "Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom" or "Her Britannic Majesty's Government" (the last in dealings with foreign states) can be found in official use.

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The acronym HMG is often used by members of the government and their advisers as a convenient short label to describe British Ministers and the senior civil servants (mandarins) in Departments of the United Kingdom Government. The term comes from the formal constitutional position that British ministers govern the country by advising the Crown through the Privy Council.

Related Topics:
British Ministers - Civil servants - Departments of the United Kingdom Government - Privy Council

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