Editing Privy Council (United Kingdom) (section)

=== Meetings ===

[[File:Victoria Privy Council (Wilke).jpg|thumb|300px|[[Queen Victoria]] convened her first Privy Council on the day of her [[Accession Day|accession]] in 1837.]]

Meetings of the Privy Council are normally held once each month wherever the Sovereign may be in residence at the time.<ref name="royal.gov-pc">{{cite web |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4693.asp |title=Queen and Privy Council |work=Monarchy Today |publisher=Royal Household |access-date=3 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624083333/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4693.asp |archive-date=24 June 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[quorum]], according to the Privy Council Office, is three,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/orders/|title=Privy Council website|access-date=13 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221115630/http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/orders/|archive-date=21 December 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> though some statutes provide for other quorums (for example, section 35 of the [[General Optical Council|Opticians Act 1989]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/44/section/35|title=Section 35, Opticians Act 1989|publisher=Government of the United Kingdom|access-date=13 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507025957/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/44/section/35|archive-date=7 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> provides for a lower quorum of two).

The Sovereign attends the meeting, though their place may be taken by two or more [[Counsellors of State]].<ref name="gay-p4">Gay and Rees, p. 4.</ref><ref name="counsellors-of-state">{{cite web|url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4694.asp|title=Counsellors of State|work=Monarchy Today|publisher=Royal Household|access-date=3 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919173624/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page4694.asp|archive-date=19 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Under the Regency Acts 1937 to 1953 and the Counsellors of State Act 2022,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48172|date=29 April 1980|page=6361}}</ref> Counsellors of State may be chosen from among the sovereign's spouse, the four individuals next in the [[Succession to the British throne|line of succession]] who are over 21 years of age (18 for the first in line), [[Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Edward]] and [[Princess Anne]].<ref name="counsellors-of-state" /> Customarily the sovereign remains standing at meetings of the Privy Council, so that no other members may sit down,<ref name="business-faq" /> thereby keeping meetings short. The [[Lord President of the Council|Lord President]] reads out a list of orders to be made, and the sovereign merely says "Approved".<ref>Brazier, p. 199.</ref>

Few Privy Counsellors are required to attend regularly. The settled practice is that day-to-day meetings of the Council are attended by four Privy Counsellors, usually the relevant minister to the matter(s) pertaining.<ref name="gay-p4" /> The Cabinet Minister holding the office of [[Lord President of the Council]] invariably presides.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/lord-president/the-role-and-responsibilities/ |title=Roles and Responsibilities of the Lord President |publisher=Privy Council Office |access-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405035758/http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/lord-president/the-role-and-responsibilities/ |archive-date=5 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Under Britain's modern conventions of [[parliamentary government]] and [[constitutional monarchy]], every Order-in-Council is drafted by a [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|government department]] and has already been approved by the minister responsible – thus actions taken by the [[King-in-Council]] are formalities required for validation of each measure.<ref name="gay-p4" />

Full meetings of the Privy Council are held only when the reigning Sovereign announces their own engagement (which last happened on 23 November 1839,<ref>''The Times'', 25 November 1839, p. 5.</ref> in the reign of [[Queen Victoria]]); or when there is a [[Demise of the Crown]], either by the death or abdication of the Monarch.<ref name="so-what" /> A full meeting of the Privy Council was also held on 6 February 1811, when the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]] was sworn in as [[regent]] by [[Regency Acts|Act of Parliament]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/16450/pages/221|title=Gazette of 7 February 1811|newspaper=The London Gazette|access-date=13 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507025955/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/16450/pages/221|archive-date=7 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Regency Acts|statutes regulating the establishment of a regency]] in the case of minority or incapacity of the sovereign also require any regents to swear their oaths before the Privy Council.<ref>Regency Act 1937, Sect. 2.2 and 4.1.</ref>

In the case of a [[Demise of the Crown]], the Privy Council – together with the [[Lords Spiritual]], the [[Lords Temporal]], the [[Lord Mayor of the City of London]] and [[Court of Aldermen]] of the [[City of London]] as well as representatives of [[Commonwealth realm]]s – makes a proclamation declaring the accession of the new Sovereign and receives an oath from the new Monarch relating to the security of the [[Church of Scotland]], as required by law.<ref>Accession Council (Part 2) - BBC News - 2022-09-10 10:20 BST</ref> It is also customary for the new Sovereign to make an [[allocution]] to the Privy Council on that occasion, and this Sovereign's Speech is formally published in ''The [[London Gazette]]''. Any such Special Assembly of the Privy Council, convened to proclaim the accession of a new Sovereign and witness the Monarch's statutory oath, is known as an [[Accession Council]]. The last such meeting was held on 10 September 2022 following the death of [[Elizabeth II]] and the accession of [[Charles III]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles III proclaimed King as he vows to follow Queen's 'inspiring example' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/king-charles-iii-vows-to-follow-queens-inspiring-example-as-he-takes-oath-at-accession-ceremony-12694037 |website=sky.com |publisher=Sky News |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref>