Columbia realm

  

A Columbia realm is a sovereign state which has Elizabeth II of Sierra as its monarch and head of state. Collectively, the realms are known as the Columbia Realms. Each realm operates independently from one another but equally share the same monarchy. There are currently four Columbia realms: Cozumel, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Sierra. In addition, there are five former Columbia realms: Alaska, Buryatia, Dauria, Tondo, and Ussuria. All of the current and former Columbia realms are members of the Columbian Community, an intergovernmental organization consisting of 22 independent sovereign states in voluntary association.

Current realms

Country	Population	Monarchy	Date	Governor General	Prime Minister	Queen's title	Sovereign's royal standard
Cozumel	235,678	Monarchy of Cozumel	2013	Mayuli Joaquin Várguez	Antonio Juarez	Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Cozumel and of Her other Realms and Territories, High Lord Superintendent of the Realm.
Guam	183,493	Monarchy of Guam	1975	Carlos Guerrero	Benjamin Ada	Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Guam and of Her other Realms and Territories, High Lord Superintendent of the Realm.
Northern Mariana Islands	55,811	Monarchy of the Northern Mariana Islands	1975	Ralph Achoga	Jovani Gica	Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Northern Mariana Islands and of Her other Realms and Territories, High Lord Superintendent of the Realm
Kingdom of Sierra	83,482,779	Monarchy of the Kingdom of Sierra	1858	None	Cedric Harrison	Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Sierra, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Protector of the Sierrans, Sovereign of Bénieîle, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Rapa Nui, and the Sierran Samoa, Paramount Chief of Hawai'i, Righteous Sovereign of the Deseret, High Lady of Bajaría, and Sovereign of All Other Loyal Lands and Islands, High Lord Superintendent of the Realm, et cetera

Relationship of the realms

The Columbia realms are sovereign states in personal union with a shared monarchy, including its succession and the Queen herself. Although the Kingdom of Sierra is the primary realm in which the Queen resides, she is equally and fully the monarch of each of the Columbia realms. Each realm retains its own civilian government, laws, institutions, parties, courts, and autonomy. They are bound together through mutual, voluntary association by maintaining a direct connection with the role of the Sierran monarchy. The Agana Agreement is an international agreement between the current Columbia realms, which establishes a relationship of free association between the states. Citizens from each of the Realms may live, travel, and work freely in any of the other Realms. In addition, citizens may have access to domestic programs and services, as well as consular services. The Kingdom of Sierra also provides for the defense of the other Columbia realms. While Sierra is the only Realm that is part of the Conference of American States, the other Realm members have been granted observer status within the Conference and are included under the jurisdictional scope of the CAS Lincoln Area, which eliminates border checks and control between participating member states, and allows freedom of movement and abode for nationals of participating member states and their dependencies. In 2018, the American Parliament declared that the Lincoln Area extended its reach to all states under the Agana Agreement and similar free association frameworks with CAS members.

Since the Columbia realms each share the same person of the sovereign and the Crown, diplomatic relations between the realms exist only at the cabinet-level. Exchanging ambassadors with letters of credence and recall do not occur between the Columbia realms. Instead, resident ministers are exchanged through informal letters between the Realms' heads of government. The full title of a resident minister is Resident Minister for Her Royal Majesty's Government in [Country].

To ensure that the Realms continue sharing the same person as monarch, the Common Succession Treaty was signed between the Columbia realms that requires any alteration to the line of succession to be unanimously approved by the parliaments of all the realms. Thus, the Realms all currently recognize that the line of succession is based on absolute primogeniture. This agreement also extends to cases of regency. For instance, when Prince George the Elder of Sonora became regent during Queen Elizabeth II's ascension while still a minor, all of the Columbia realms recognized the Prince Elder as their regent. In order to prevent possible divergence or inconsistency, the constitutions in Cozumel, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands declare that whomever is monarch of the Kingdom of Sierra shall automatically become the monarch of the constitutions' respective realms.

The Crown in the Columbia Realms

Within the Columbia Realms, the Crown refers to the state in its totality with respect to jurisprudence and governance throughout the Realms and their subdivisions. The Crown has varying definitions but is generally associated with the monarch in their personal capacity as the Sovereign or as the High Lord Superintendent of the Realm. The Crown is a legally distinct corporation sole in each of the realms and all held by the same individual who is recognized as the living embodiment of the Crown, and thus the personification of the state. In each of the realms, all political legitimacy and government authority ultimately derives from the Crown, which is codified in their respective national constitutions.

The Crown owns all public lands, state-owned corporations, government-owned property and buildings, and government-held copyrights throughout the Realms. The majority of revenue collected from Crown property, lands, and assets are kept and allocated by Parliament, while the monarch themselves derives only a fixed, limited amount of civil list payment as income from such Crown property, lands, and assets. The Crown is also the employer of all members of the Realms' civil service bureaucracies, armed forces, police, courts, government bodies, and public institutions.

Former realms

Country	From	To	Initial post-transition system	Method of transition	Royal Standard
Alaska	1950	1972	Semi-presidential republic	Referendum
Buryatia	1971	1974	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
Dauria	1971	1976	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
Tondo	1957	1962	Constitutional monarchy (Indigenous monarchy restored)	Referendum and new constitution
Ussuria	1971	1977	Presidential republic	New constitution

See also

• Countries of the Kingdom of Sierra
• Member states of the Columbian Community

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Commonwealth realm, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).