Commonwealth Realm
In 1970, 96 years of British rule came to an end, and Fiji became a Commonwealth realm, an independent sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations. The official name of the state was the "Dominion of Fiji". As a Commonwealth realm, Fiji's Head of State was Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor-General. The Commonwealth realms share a single monarch, and include countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. They are all independent from one another, and the Queen acts independently in each realm, but they share the same person as monarch. As a constitutional monarchy, executive power is held by a prime minister, usually the leader of the majority party in an elected legislature. The prime minister is appointed by a Governor-General in all realms except the United Kingdom, where the Queen appoints a prime minister personally.
Read more about this topic: Tui Viti
Famous quotes containing the words commonwealth and/or realm:
“While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I have proceeded ... to prevent the lapse from ... the point of blending between wakefulness and sleep.... Not ... that I can render the point more than a point—but that I can startle myself ... into wakefulness—and thus transfer the point ... into the realm of Memory—convey its impressions,... to a situation where ... I can survey them with the eye of analysis.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)