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The official who represents and acts on behalf and in the place of the head of state in those (now relatively few) members of the Commonwealth who accept the British monarch as their formal head. Originally, the governor-general was the representative, and always a national, of Britain in a British dominion (and in some dependent territories – usually those with a federal structure), and was the senior person in the self-governing territory\'s administrative structure. But as the Commonwealth underwent constitutional development, and the dominions became sovereign states, the office of governor-general changed, so that in all essential respects its holder became, in relation to the Commonwealth member in question, the on-the-spot substitute for the member\'s head of state. Thus a governor-general was never a diplomat; and in the twentieth century the holder of this office ceased to be the representative or agent of the British government. He or she is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the government of the state concerned. In the federal state of Australia the monarch is represented at the federal level by a governor-general, and in each of Australia\'s constituent States by a governor; and in each of the Provinces of the federal state of Canada by a lieutenant-governor, while also being represented at the federal level by a governor-general. See also high commissioner. |
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