Officers
In England and Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the highest in precedence following the royal family. Then come the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of York. Next come certain officers: the Prime Minister, the Lord President of the Privy Council, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords (since July 2006), the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (since October 2009), the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (since November 2007) and the Lord Privy Seal.
The precedence of other officers—the Lord Great Chamberlain, Earl Marshal, Lord Steward, and Lord Chamberlain—is based on the degree of their peerage. These officers rank above all other peers of their rank. Thus, if the Lord Steward were a duke, he would outrank other dukes; and if a marquess, would outrank other marquesses; and so forth. The precedence of the Master of the Horse is linked directly to that of the Lord Chamberlain, for the Master follows immediately after the Lord Chamberlain. However, if the Master is of a higher degree of peerage than the Lord Chamberlain, he would rank among his fellow peers of that degree, and not below the Lord Chamberlain.
In Scotland, the officers of state are different. The Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and the Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, if they are peers, rank after the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. If not, they rank after younger sons of dukes. The Hereditary High Constable of Scotland and the Master of the Household in Scotland rank above dukes. If the Keepers of the Seals are peers, then the Keepers precede the High Constable and Master.
Read more about this topic: Orders Of Precedence In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the word officers:
“I then went to the Parade. I saw the King. It was a glorious sight.... As a loadstone moves needles, or a storm bows the lofty oaks, did Frederick the Great make the Prussian officers submissive bend as he walked majestic in the midst of them.”
—James Boswell (1740–1795)
“You know, what I very well know, that I bought you. And I know, what perhaps you think I don’t know, you are now selling yourselves to somebody else; and I know, what you do not know, that I am buying another borough. May God’s curse light upon you all: may your houses be as open and common to all Excise Officers as your wifes and daughters were to me, when I stood for your scoundrel corporation.”
—Anthony Henley (d. 1745)
“No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties. No assessment for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)