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Is The Queen an Empress?

2, August, 2008 Discuss it What they said

While searching for the BBC’s 1969 program “The Royal Family”, I came across Yahoo! Answers. Someone posted a question which I thought was interesting and should be answered. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Q: An empire is a group of nations with one supreme ruler. The UK contains four countries England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as the Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. So would the title Britannic Empress (or something similar) be more fitting for our Queen ???

So I responded.

A: The Empire no longer exists, so therefore she could not be referred to as an Empress. The British Empire became a group of countries called the Commonwealth. Some old colonial countries are still a part of the Commonwealth, but India, for instance, left long ago. The Queen is known as Elizabeth The Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. King George VI, the Queen’s father, was the last King-Emperor.

See what others had to say.

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  • Joseph

    Spot on! In particular the Empire of India no longer exists and, if I remember right, that was the basis of Disraeli (I think) voting Queen Victoria the imperial title. The last Mughal Emperor had died (Bahadur Shah II) and so Victoria became Empress of India. When India became a republic there was no more imperial title. Plus, I would say that the original definition does not really hold as the Queen is head of state for many countries, not the head of state of one country that rules a bunch of others.

  • Joseph

    Spot on! In particular the Empire of India no longer exists and, if I remember right, that was the basis of Disraeli (I think) voting Queen Victoria the imperial title. The last Mughal Emperor had died (Bahadur Shah II) and so Victoria became Empress of India. When India became a republic there was no more imperial title. Plus, I would say that the original definition does not really hold as the Queen is head of state for many countries, not the head of state of one country that rules a bunch of others.

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