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The Right Honourable (abbreviated "The Rt Hon." or "The Right Hon.") is an honourific prefix which is traditionally applied to certain classes of people in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth Realms, and elsewhere.

Entitlement

People entitled to the prefix in a personal capacity are:

In order to differentiate peers who are Privy Counsellors from those who are not, sometimes the suffix PC is added to the title.

In addition some people are entitled to the prefix in an official capacity, i.e. the prefix is added to the name of the office, but not the name of the person:

All other Lords Mayor are "The Right Worshipful", other Lords Provost do not use an honorific.

Corporate entities

The prefix is also added to the name of various corporate entities, e.g.:

  • The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal (of the United Kingdom &c.) in Parliament Assembled (the House of Lords);
  • The Right Honourable the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses (now usually the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom &c.) in Parliament Assembled (the House of Commons); and
  • The Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (the Board of Admiralty)
  • The Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations (the Board of Trade)

See also the corporate use of "Most Honourable," as in "The Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council" (the Privy Council).

Use of the honorific

The honorific is normally only used on the front of envelopes and other written documents: for example, The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP is otherwise referred to simply as "Mr Blair".

In the House of Commons, members refer to each other as "the honourable member for ..." or "the right honourable member for ..." depending upon whether or not they are Privy Councillors. However the title "the honourable member" is only a parliamentary term and is not used outside the House.

When a married woman holds this style, she uses her own given name in her style. So, when Margaret Thatcher was made a Privy Counsellor, her formal style changed from "Mrs. Denis Thatcher" to "The Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher".

Outside the United Kingdom

Generally within the Commonwealth, ministers and judges are The Honourable unless they are appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, in which case they are The Right Honourable. Such persons generally include Prime Ministers and judges of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, and several other Commonwealth prime ministers.

Australia

In Australia some Premiers of the Australian colonies in the 19th century were appointed members of the UK Privy Council and were thus entitled to be called The Right Honourable. After Federation in 1901, the Governor-General, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the Prime Minister and some other senior ministers held the title. There has never been an Australian Privy Council.

In 1972 Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam declined appointment to the Privy Council, but the practice was resumed by Malcolm Fraser in 1975. In 1983 Bob Hawke declined the appointment, and the appointment of Australians to the Privy Council was abolished shortly thereafter. The last Governor-General to be entitled to the style was Sir Ninian Stephen. The last politician to be entitled to the style was Ian Sinclair, who retired in 1998.

The only living Australians holding the title The Right Honourable for life are:

  • Doug Anthony, former Deputy Prime Minister
  • Sir Zelman Cowen, former Governor-General
  • Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister
  • Ian Sinclair, former Leader of the National Party and Speaker of the House of Representatives
  • Sir Ninian Stephen, former Governor-General
  • Reginald Withers, former Senator, Minister, and Lord Mayor of Perth.

The Lord Mayors of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart are styled The Right Honourable, but the style (which has no connection with the Privy Council) attaches to the title of Lord Mayor, and not to their names, and is relinquished upon leaving office. Reginald Withers holds the title Right Honourable for life because he was a member of the Privy Council before he was elected Lord Mayor of Perth.

Canada

In Canada, members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada receive the honorific The Honourable, with only the occupants of the most senior public offices being made The Right Honourable, as they used to be appointed to the British Privy Council.

L'Honorable and le Très Honorable are used in French by the federal government, but the Office québécois de la langue française (the Quebec government body setting standards for the French language) considers them improper loan expressions and advises the use of Monsieur and Madame (Mr. and Ms.) instead.

The following public servants are awarded the style The Right Honourable for life:

(Governors General also use the style His/Her Excellency during their term of office.)

Several prominent Canadians (mostly politicians) have become members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and have thus been entitled to use the title Right Honourable, either because of their services in Britain (e.g. serving as envoys to London) or as members of the Imperial War Cabinet, or due to their prominence in the Canadian Cabinet. These include:

1 - As Prime Minister.

2 - Tupper was appointed when he was no longer Prime Minister and St. Laurent was appointed when he was a cabinet minister under Mackenzie King.

3 - Massey became Governor General over a decade later. He was made "Right Honourable" while serving as Canada's High Commissioner to London.

4 - As Chief Justice of Canada

5 - As Governor General of Canada.

6 - Duff did not become Chief Justice until 1933.

Canadian appointments to the British Privy Council were ended by the government of Lester Pearson. Since then, the style may only be granted for life by the Governor General to eminent Canadians who have not held any of the offices that would otherwise entitle them to the style. It has been granted to the following individuals:

Ireland

Members of the Privy Council of Ireland were entitled to be addressed as The Right Honourable until the Privy Council was abolished with the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922; nevertheless the Lord Mayor of Dublin, like his counterparts in the United Kingdom, retained the usage of the honorific after this time as a result of a separate conferring of the title by law; in 2001 the honorific was removed as a consequence of local government law reform. The Lord Mayor of Cork has never been entitled to the title.

The remaining members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland are entitled to be styled The Right Honourable.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the Prime Minister and some other senior cabinet ministers have customarily been appointed to the British Privy Council and styled The Right Honourable. The current Prime Minister, Helen Clark has not recommended any new Privy Counsellors.

At present there are only two Privy Counsellors in the New Zealand Parliament: Helen Clark appointed in 1990 and Winston Peters appointed in 1996. Privy Counsellors recently retired include the former Speaker of the House, Jonathan Hunt and former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley (appointed upon becoming Prime Minister in 1997). Senior Judges are also often appointed as Privy Counsellors.

See also

External links

Titles | Honorifics

The Right Honourable | Le très honorable | Dvojctihodný

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Right Honourable".

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