The British Royal Family is the family group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom.

There is no strict legal or formal definition in the UK of who is or is not a member of the Royal Family, and different lists will include different people. However, those carrying the style Her or His Majesty (HM), or Her or His Royal Highness (HRH) are normally considered members. By this criterion, the Royal Family will usually include the monarch, the consort of the monarch, the widows and widowers of previous monarchs, the children of the monarch and of previous monarchs, the male-line grandchildren of the monarch and previous monarchs, and the wives or widows of a monarch's and previous monarch's sons and male-line grandsons. Different terms may be applied to the same or similar group of relatives of the monarch in his or her role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms. For example, for Canada the family is known as the Canadian Royal Family. Some members of the Royal Family have official residences named as the places from which announcements are made in the Court Circular about official engagements they have carried out. The state duties and staff of some members of the Royal Family are funded from a [1] parliamentary annuity, the amount of which is fully refunded by the Queen to the treasury. After 1917, when King George V changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, members of the Royal Family belong, either by birth or marriage, to the House of Windsor. Senior titled members of the royal family do not usually use a surname, although since 1960 Mountbatten-Windsor (incorporating Prince Philip's adopted surname of Mountbatten) has been prescribed as a surname for Queen Elizabeth II's direct descendants who do not have royal styles and titles, and has also sometimes been used when required for those who do have such titles.
Contents
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1 Status 2 List of members 3 Collaterals 4 Family tree of members 5 Members of the British Royal Family since 1707 6 In other Commonwealth realms

6.1 Other related articles

7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

Status[edit]
On 30 November 1917, King George V issued Letters Patent defining the styles and titles of members of the Royal Family; the text of the notice from the London Gazette is as follows:
Whitehall, 11th December, 1917.

The KING has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 30th ultimo, to define the styles and titles to be borne henceforth by members of the Royal Family. It is declared by the Letters Patent that the children of any Sovereign of the United Kingdom and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour; that save as aforesaid the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked; and that the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes.

In 1996, Her Majesty The Queen modified these Letters Patent, as was evidenced by this Notice from the London Gazette:
The QUEEN has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 21st August 1996, to declare that a former wife (other than a widow until she shall remarry) of a son of a Sovereign of these Realms, of a son of a son of a Sovereign and of the eldest living son of the eldest son of The Prince of Wales shall not be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness.

On 31 December 2012, Letters Patent were issued to extend a title and a style borne by members of the Royal Family to additional persons to be born, evidenced by this Notice [2] from the London Gazette:
The QUEEN has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 31 December 2012 to declare that all the children of the eldest son of The Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of Royal Highness with the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names or with such other titles of honour.

Members and relatives of the British Royal Family historically represented the monarch in various places throughout the British Empire, sometimes for extended periods asviceroys, or for specific ceremonies or events. Today, they often perform ceremonial and social duties throughout the United Kingdom and abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom. Aside from the monarch, their only constitutional role in the affairs of government is to serve, if eligible and when appointed by letters patent, as a Counsellor of State, two or more of whom exercise the authority of the Crown (within stipulated limits) if the monarch is indisposed or abroad. In the other countries of the Commonwealth royalty do not serve as Counsellors of State, although they may perform ceremonial and social duties on behalf of individual states or the organisation. The Queen, her consort, her children and grandchildren, as well as all former sovereigns' children and grandchildren hold places in the first sections of the official orders of precedence in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Wives of the said enjoy

their husbands' precedence, and husbands of princesses are unofficially but habitually placed with their wives as well. However, the Queen changed the private order of precedence in the Royal Family in favour of Princesses Anne and Alexandra, who henceforth take private precedence over the Duchess of Cornwall, who is otherwise the [3][4] realm's highest ranking woman after the Queen herself. She did not alter the relative precedence of other born-princesses, such as the daughters of her younger sons.

A royal family typically includes the spouse of the reigning monarch, surviving spouses of a deceased monarch, the children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and paternal cousins of the reigning monarch, as well as their spouses. In some cases, royal family membership may extend to great grandchildren and more distant descendants of a monarch. In certain monarchies where voluntaryabdication is the norm, such as the Netherlands, a royal family may also include one or more former monarchs. There is often a distinction between persons of the blood royal and those that marry into the royal family. In certain instances, such as in Canada, [2] the royal family is defined by who holds the styles Majesty and Royal Highness. Under most systems, only persons in the first category are dynasts, that is, potential successors to the throne (unless the member of the latter category is also in line to the throne in their own right, a frequent occurrence in royal families which frequently intermarry). This is not always observed; some monarchies have operated by the principle of jure uxoris. In addition certain relatives of the monarch (by blood or marriage) possess special privileges and are subject to certain statutes, conventions, or special common law. The precise functions of a royal family vary depending on whether the polity in question is anabsolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, or somewhere in between. In certain monarchies, such as that found in Saudi Arabia orKuwait, or in political systems where the monarch actually exercises executive power, such as in Jordan, it is not uncommon for the members of a royal family to hold important government posts or military commands. In most constitutional monarchies, however, members of a royal family perform certain public, social, or ceremonial functions, but refrain from any involvement in electoral politics or the actual governance of the country. The specific composition of royal families varies from country to country, as do the titles and royal and noble styles held by members of the family. The composition of the royal family may be regulated by statute enacted by the legislature (e.g. Spain, the Netherlands, and Japan since 1947), the Sovereign's prerogative and common law tradition (e.g. the United Kingdom), or a private house law (e.g., Liechtenstein, the former ruling houses of Bavaria, Prussia, Hanover, etc.). Public statutes, constitutional provisions, or conventions may also regulate the marriages, names, and personal titles of royal family members. The members of a royal family may or may not have a surname or dynastic name (see Royal House). In a constitutional monarchy, when the monarch dies, there is always a law or tradition of succession to the throne that either specifies a formula for identifying the precise order of succession among family members in line to the throne or specifies a process by which a family member is chosen to inherit the crown. Usually in the former case the exact line of hereditary succession among royal individuals may be identified at any given moment during

prior reigns (e.g. United Kingdom, Sark, Nizari Ismailis, Japan, Balobedus, Sweden,Kingdom of Benin) whereas in the latter case the next sovereign may be selected (or changed) only during the reign or shortly after the demise of the immediately preceding monarch (e.g. Cambodia, KwaZulu Natal, Buganda, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, Yorubaland, The Kingitanga). Some monarchies employ a mix of these selection processes (Malaysia, Monaco, Tonga, Jordan, Morocco), providing for both an identifiable line of succession as well as authority for the monarch, dynasty or other institution to alter the line in specific instances without changing the general law of succession

The Imperial House of Japan ( kshitsu?), also referred to as the Imperial Family and the Yamato dynasty, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the presentConstitution of Japan, the emperor is the symbol of the state and unity of the people. Other members of the imperial family perform ceremonial and social duties, but have no role in the affairs of government. The duties as an emperor are passed down the line to children and their children's children and so on. The Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world. The imperial house recognizes 125 monarchsbeginning with the legendary Emperor Jimmu (traditionally dated to February 11, 660 BC) and continuing up to the current emperor,Akihito; see its family tree. However, there is no historical evidence for the genealogical relationships, and in most cases even the existence, of the first 25 emperors. Historically, any male member of the Imperial Family was titled or by default, with shinn being special titles granted by the Emperor. After the Meiji Restoration, the difference between and shinn were altered. Under the new rule, a shinn or naishinn was a legitimate male -line Imperial Family member descended from an Emperor down to the great grandchild. The term "legitimate Imperial Family" excludes the descendants of anyone who renounced their membership in the Imperial Family, or were expelled from the Imperial Family. Shinn also included the heads of any of the shinn-ke (: shinn family). A provision of law which never had an opportunity to be applied also stipulated that if the head of a shinnke succeeded to theChrysanthemum Throne, then his brothers would acquire the title of shinn, as well as their descendants (down to the grandchildren). The Emperor could also specially grant the title of shinn to any .

The monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster[4] style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, [5][6][7] and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government. The current Canadian monarch, since 6 February 1952, is Queen Elizabeth II. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with fifteen other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled Queen of Canada and, in this capacity, she, herconsort, and other members of the Canadian Royal Family undertake public and private

functions domestically and abroad as representatives of the Canadian state. However, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. The Queen lives predominantly in the United Kingdom and, while several powers are the sovereign's alone, most of the royal governmental and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the Queen's representative, the governor general. In each ofCanada's provinces, the monarch is represented by a lieutenant governor, while the territories are not sovereign and thus do not have a viceroy. Per the Canadian constitution, the responsibilities of the sovereign and/or governor general include summoning and dismissing parliament, calling elections, and appointing governments. Further, Royal Assent and the royal sign-manual are required to enact laws, letters patent, and orders in council. But the authority for these acts stems from the Canadian populace [8][9][10] and, within the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited, with most related powers entrusted for exercise by the elected and appointed parliamentarians, the ministers of the Crowngenerally [8] drawn from amongst them, and the judges and justices of the peace. The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance and [8][11][12] a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power, the sovereign acting as a custodian of the Crown's democratic powers and a representation of the "power of the people above [13][14] government and political parties." The historical roots of the Canadian monarchy date back to approximately the turn of the 16th [n 1][22][23][24][25][26] century, when European kingdoms made the first claims to what is now Canadian territory. Monarchical governance thenceforth evolved under a continuous succession of French and British sovereigns, and eventually the legally distinct Canadian [15][18][19][21][27][28] [n monarchy, which is sometimes colloquially referred to as the Maple Crown.
2][18][30]

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The British Royal Family is the family group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. There is no strict legal or formal definition in the UK of who is or is not a member of the Royal Family, and different lists will include different people. However, those carrying the style Her or His Majesty (HM), or Her or His Royal Highness (HRH) are normally considered members. By this criterion, the Royal Family will usually include the monarch, the consort of the monarch, the widows and widowers of previous monarchs, the children of the monarch and of previous monarchs, the male-line grandchildren of the monarch and previous monarchs, and the wives or widows of a monarch's and previous monarch's sons and male-line grandsons. Different terms may be applied to the same or similar group of relatives of the monarch in his or her role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms. For example, for Canada the family is known as the Canadian Royal Family. Some members of the Royal Family have official residences named as the places from which announcements are made in the Court Circular about official engagements they have carried out. The state duties and staff of some members of the Royal Family are funded from a [1] parliamentary annuity, the amount of which is fully refunded by the Queen to the treasury. After 1917, when King George V changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, members of the Royal Family belong, either by birth or marriage, to the House of

Windsor. Senior titled members of the royal family do not usually use a surname, although since 1960 Mountbatten-Windsor (incorporating Prince Philip's adopted surname of Mountbatten) has been prescribed as a surname for Queen Elizabeth II's direct descendants who do not have royal styles and titles, and has also sometimes been used when