In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St. James's Palace upon the death of a monarch (Demise of the Crown), to make a formal proclamation of the accession of his or her successor to the throne, and to receive a religious oath from the new monarch. However, the proclamation has no legal force, as the succession will have automatically passed to the new monarch under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701.
The Council is made up of Privy Counsellors, members of the House of Lords, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the Aldermen of the City of London and the High Commissioners of some Commonwealth countries.
Read more about Accession Council: Proclamation, Religious Oath, The King Is Dead. Long Live The King!
Famous quotes containing the word council:
“There by some wrinkled stones round a leafless tree
With beards askew, their eyes dull and wild
Twelve ragged men, the council of charity
Wandering the face of the earth a fatherless child....”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)