governor-general

Representative of the British government in a Commonwealth country that regards the British sovereign as head of state. The first Commonwealth country to receive such a representative was Canada in 1929. In almost all Commonwealth countries the governor-general is now a citizen of that country.

The governor-general was described by the Imperial Conference of 1926 as the ‘representative of the Crown, holding in all essential respects the same position in relation to the administration of public affairs in the dominion as is held by His Majesty the King in Great Britain, and ... not the representative or agent of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain or of any department of that government’. The procedure for the appointment of governor-generals was laid down by the Imperial Conference of 1930. As the governor-general ceased to be the channel of communication between government and government, consideration was given to the representation of the British government in the dominions. The solution was the creation of a position of high commissioner to correspond with the dominion high commissioners in London.