Royal Charter
A
Royal Charter is a
charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. In medieval Europe, cities were the only place where it was legal to conduct commerce, and Royal Charters were the only way to establish a city. The year a city was chartered is considered the year the city was "founded", irrespective of whether there was settlement there before.
In the
Commonwealth Realms a
Royal Charter is a
charter granted by the
Sovereign on the advice of the
Privy Council, which creates or gives special status to an
incorporated body. It is an exercise of the
Royal Prerogative.
At one time a Royal Charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means such as the registration of a limited company are now available. Among the historic bodies formed by Royal Charter were the
British East India Company, the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), and the
American colonies.
Among the 400 or so organisations with Royal Charters are
cities; the
BBC; theatres such as the
Royal Opera House and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane;
Livery Companies; Britain's older universities;
professional institutions and
charities such as
Toc H.
A Royal Charter is the manner in which a British
town is raised to the rank of
British city. Most recently
Inverness,
Brighton & Hove and
Wolverhampton were given their charters to celebrate the millennium, and
Preston,
Stirling,
Newport,
Lisburn and
Newry to celebrate the
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in
2002.
Some of the older
British universities operate under Royal Charters, which give them the power to grant degrees. The
College of William and Mary in Virginia was founded by a Royal Charter in
1693. The most recent generation of universities were granted this power by the
Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 instead. Some other universities operate under
Acts of Parliament.
The
BBC operates under a Royal Charter which lasts for a limited period of ten years, after which it is renewed.
Most Royal Charters are now granted to
professional institutions and to charities. A Charter is not necessary for them to operate, but one is often sought as a recognition of "pre-eminence, stability and permanence".
A number of Irish institutions still have a "Royal" prefix, even though the country has been a republic since 1949.
*
List organisations in the United Kingdom with a royal charter*
List of Australian organisations with royal patronage*
List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage*
List of New Zealand organisations with royal patronage*
Privy Council website*
Royal Charter of the BBC*
Charter of the University of Birmingham*
Royal Charter of Rhode Island (1663)*
UK topics
