The Right Honourable


The Right Honourable is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, Australia, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is predominantly used today as a style associated with the holding of certain senior public offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, Kenya and New Zealand.
"Right" in this context is an adverb meaning "thoroughly" or "very".

Major current title

United Kingdom

The prefix is customarily abbreviated to "The" in many situations, e.g The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, but never for Privy Counsellors. The following persons are entitled to the style in a personal capacity:
The following persons are entitled to the style ex officio. The style is added to the name of the office, not the name of the person:
All other lord mayors are "The Right Worshipful"; other lords provost do not use an honorific. By the 1920s, a number of city mayors, including the Lord mayor of Leeds, were unofficially using the prefix "The Right Honourable", and the matter was consequently raised in Parliament. The Lord Mayor of Bristol at present still uses the prefix "Right Honourable", without official sanction. The Chairman of the London County Council was granted the style in 1935 as part of the celebrations of the silver jubilee of King George V. The chairman of the Greater London Council, the body that replaced the LCC in 1965, was similarly granted the prefix; however, that body, and by extension the office of its chairman, was likewise abolished in 1986.
Privy Counsellors are appointed for life by the monarch, on the advice of the prime minister. All members of the British Cabinet are appointed to the Privy Council, as are certain other senior ministers in the government, senior members of the Shadow Cabinet, and leaders of the major political parties. The Privy Council thus includes all current and former members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, excepting those who have resigned from the Privy Council. The first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also so appointed, as is the leader of the largest opposition party in the Scottish Parliament.
In order to differentiate peers who are Privy Counsellors from those who are not, the suffix "PC" should be added after the name. This is not however considered correct by Who's Who.
In the House of Commons, members are not permitted to address each other directly or name other members, but must instead address the Speaker and refer to each other indirectly by their job. A non-Privy Council member is thus "my hon. Friend " if in the same party as the person speaking, and "the hon. Member/Gentleman/Lady " otherwise. "Honourable" becomes "right honourable" for those members entitled to this style, in particular Privy Counsellors. Members with government or opposition jobs may be referred to as such, for example "my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer", "the right hon. Lady, the Leader of the Opposition", "his right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Department", "the Secretary of State", or "the Prime Minister". Other honorifics are used in addition for those members in relevant professions:
Provided they are Commonwealth citizens, foreign judges appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are entitled to the honorific as well, although the appellation may be ignored in the judge's home country.

Collective entities

In the United Kingdom, "The Right Honourable" is added as a prefix to the name of various collective entities such as:
See also the collective use of "the Most Honourable", as in "The Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council".

Canada

In Canada, occupants of the most senior public offices are styled as "The Right Honourable". Formerly, this was by virtue of their appointment to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. However, Canadian appointments to the British Privy Council were ended by the government of Lester Pearson. Currently, individuals who hold, or have held, one of the following offices are awarded the style of Right Honourable for life:
The title is not to be confused with "His/Her Excellency", used by governors general during their term of office, or "The Honourable", used only while in office by premiers, and provincial cabinet ministers, and for life by senators and federal cabinet ministers.
The style may also be granted for life by the Governor General to eminent Canadians who have not held any of the offices that would otherwise entitle them to the style. This has been done on two occasions: once to mark the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 1992, and again upon the retirement of longtime politician Herb Gray in 2002.
The following individuals have been granted the title as an honorific:
PersonBirthplaceReasonBornGranted
Ottawa, ONPrime Minister19712015
Toronto, ONFormer Prime Minister19592006
Windsor, ONFormer Prime Minister19382003
Shawinigan, QCFormer Prime Minister19341993
Port Alberni, BCFormer Prime Minister19471993
Baie-Comeau, QCFormer Prime Minister19391984
United KingdomFormer Prime Minister19291984
High River, ABFormer Prime Minister19391979
Montreal, QCGovernor General19632017
Sudbury, ONFormer Governor General19412010
HaitiFormer Governor General19572005
Hong KongFormer Governor General19391999
Beausejour, MBFormer Governor General19351979
Montreal, QCChief Justice19572017
Pincher Creek, ABFormer Chief Justice19432000
Viking, ABHonorific19351992

Over the years, a number of prominent Canadians became members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and thus were entitled to use the style of Right Honourable, either because of their services in Britain or as members of the Imperial War Cabinet, or due to their prominence in the Canadian Cabinet. These included all but three of Canada's early prime ministers, who governed before the title was used domestically.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the prime minister and some other senior cabinet ministers were customarily appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and thus styled The Right Honourable.
In her resignation honours, the former prime minister Helen Clark did not recommend the appointment of any new Privy Counsellors, and at present Winston Peters is the sole Privy Counsellor in the New Zealand parliament. Privy Counsellors recently retired from parliament include Clark, the former Speaker of the House Jonathan Hunt, and the former prime minister Jenny Shipley. In 2009 it was announced that the new prime minister John Key had decided not to make any further recommendations to the Crown for appointments to the Privy Council.
In August 2010, the Queen of New Zealand announced that, with immediate effect, individuals who hold, and those persons who after the date of the signing of these rules are appointed to, the following offices are awarded the style The Right Honourable for life:
This change was made because the practice of appointing New Zealanders to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom had ceased. However, the change had little immediate effect, as all but two of the holders or living former holders of the offices granted the style had already been appointed to the Privy Council.
The living New Zealanders holding the style "The Right Honourable" as a result of membership of the Privy Council are:
The living New Zealanders holding the style "The Right Honourable" for life as a result of the 2010 changes are:
NameTitleDate Appointed
Sir Anand SatyanandFormer Governor-General2 August 2010
Sir John KeyFormer Prime Minister2 August 2010
Sir Lockwood SmithFormer Speaker of the House of Representatives2 August 2010
Sir Jerry MateparaeFormer Governor-General31 August 2011
David CarterFormer Speaker of the House of Representatives1 February 2013
Dame Patsy ReddyGovernor-General28 September 2016
Sir Bill EnglishFormer Prime Minister12 December 2016
Jacinda ArdernPrime Minister26 October 2017
Trevor MallardSpeaker of the House of Representatives7 November 2017
Dame Helen WinklemannChief Justice14 March 2019

Minor or historic title

Australia

In Australia, the lord mayors of Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney are entitled to be styled "The Right Honourable" while in office.
Historically, a number of Australians were entitled to the style as members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. Appointment to the Australian equivalent of the Privy Council, the Federal Executive Council, does not entitle a person to the style. Typical appointees to the Imperial Privy Council included senior politicians and judges at state and federal level. Malcolm Fraser in 1976 was the most recent prime minister to accept appointment to the Privy Council and thus to be styled "The Right Honourable". Of his 21 predecessors, only four were not members of the Privy Council – Alfred Deakin, Chris Watson, Arthur Fadden, and Gough Whitlam. The last Governor-General to be entitled to the style was Sir Ninian Stephen, who left office in 1988. The last active politician to be entitled to the style was Ian Sinclair, who retired in 1998. The few Australian recipients of British peerages were also entitled to the style.
Present-day Australian governments no longer recommend Australians for elevation to the peerage or appointment to the Privy Council. However, some present-day Australian citizens either hold hereditary peerages or have been awarded life peerages on the recommendation of the UK government.
Living Australians holding the title The Right HonourableReasonFormerly
Doug Anthony, AC, CHMember of the Privy CouncilFormer Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Ian Sinclair, ACMember of the Privy CouncilFormer Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
Sir William Heseltine, GCB, GCVO, ACMember of the Privy CouncilFormer Private Secretary to the Sovereign
Trixie Gardner, Baroness Gardner of Parkes, AM, JPLife peerFormer Councillor on the Westminster City Council
Malcolm Murray, 12th Earl of DunmoreEarl of DunmoreFormer Member of the House of Lords
Robert Fiennes-Clinton, 19th Earl of LincolnEarl of Lincoln
Simon Abney-Hastings, 15th Earl of LoudounEarl of Loudoun
George Dawson-Damer, 7th Earl of PortarlingtonEarl of Portarlington
Keith Rous, 6th Earl of StradbrokeEarl of Stradbroke
Francis Grosvenor, 8th Earl of WiltonEarl of Wilton
Nicholas St John, 9th Viscount Bolingbroke, 10th Viscount St JohnViscount Bolingbroke
Charles Cavendish, 7th Baron CheshamBaron Chesham
James Lindsay, 3rd Baron Lindsay of BirkerBaron Lindsay of Birker
David Campbell, 7th Baron Stratheden and CampbellBaron Stratheden

Ireland

Members of the Privy Council of Ireland were entitled to be addressed as The Right Honourable, even after the Privy Council ceased to have any functions or to meet on the creation of the Irish Free State in December 1922. Nevertheless, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, like some of his counterparts in Great Britain, retained the use of the honorific style as a result of its having been conferred separately by legislation; in 2001 it was removed, as a consequence of local government law reform.

Kenya

The second prime minister Raila Amolo Odinga has been referred to as Rt. Honourable Raila Odinga.

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka the British practice was followed with Ceylonese members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom were styled The Right Honourable and were referred to as Mahamanya in Sinhala. Ceylonese appointees to the privy council included D. S. Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawala.