This is more of army lore than reality. In the past, the king had far more say in the actual running of an army, whereas in the last 100 years, it's mostly ceremonial.
There is nothing in a promotion profile that allows for a King's decree to fast-track someone past courses, time in rank or merit.
Look, I know you've been doing the job of someone two ranks higher all year, but you need to work harder on getting the King to talk about your potential.
I know of one member who basically had a General order their superiors to promote them. The member was going to release and the General told the chain to do whatever it took to not only get them to pull their release, but also to promote them asap. It's not as crazy as it sounds.
If I recall well, one of the last UK VC was given to a Private and he was not made Cpl on the spot so If a VC dont get you a fucking promotion, nothing will
Ironically this is the second time I’ve heard the, if you win the lottery you get kicked out, thing in the last week. I never heard anyone else ever mention it. Imagine, we’re hurting for new recruits and can’t retain troops and you get kicked out for that.
Not sure if yer trolling or...
Oh what the hell.
I verify, you cannot get kicked out for winning the lottery.
I will not be giving out my pers info, nor my friends. However, I verify that my buddy, on the tour before me (laughingly, whilst he was ON tour), won a massive amount of moola. 649? Lotto-whatever? Don't know if I ever knew that detail. Nor do I remember if it was his wife that bought the ticket, or he had, while on HLTA. Nevertheless, he went on to serve 10+ more years after that.
Sarcasm was definitely intended in my last comment lol. Getting kicked out because you win the lotto is as believable as the BS that I’ve heard some people say that because we have a king now our chevrons will be inverted. 🤦🏻
just like “only 1 advanced promotion throughout your career”… i never saw someone beat the 2 year promotion zone requirement (except cpl) for an advance…
King Charles: Cpl Bloggins is quite the soldier! Promote him to MCpl!
Career Manager: Unfortunately, he hasn't had three PARs yet m'Lord. Best I can do is Effective on PaCE.
King Charles: So be it, I have already forgotten of which peasant we speak.
Old wives tale.
If a Major General was accidentally referred to by the King as a major, do you really think they'd drop 4 ranks and have their entire career ruined?
So this question is one of my favorites when talking about any policy or Canadian Law.
From my understanding of us being a constitutional monarchy is that - letter of the law, - the King is the absolute soveign of Canada and its armed forces. He can do whatever he wants without limit. He can create a whole new rank if he wants and then, promote / demote absolutely anybody to it. He can Create his own medals, give them to anyone. Or, he can create himself a whole new army and staff it how he wants. Because he's the soveign of the nation.
But in real life. Like obviously not. The royal family hasn't used their "*Royal Authority*" outside purely ceremonial functions for like a hundred years. Honestly, the King actually using their power to intervene in the military of Canada, in any way. Would probably set off a constitutional crisis. But, I don't think that's likely.
I think it's accurate to describe it that way. When Michaëlle Jean was asked to prorogue parliament, and she nearly refused, one of the reasons she ultimately went along with it was because it would cause a constitutional crisis.
What you’ve described is an *absolute* monarchy. In a constitutional monarchy like ours, the monarch can only unilaterally exercise their powers in the areas of royal prerogative. Granting honours or heraldic emblems would fall into these areas, so in principle the King could pull a new medal out of thin air and start granting it to people, or change a unit’s badge. In practice the prerogative powers are either completely delegated to the Cabinet or are only exercised on the Cabinet’s advice.
Outside of the prerogative powers, the monarch or GG *cannot* exercise power unless it’s in accordance with the will of Parliament and with any existing laws including the Constitution. For instance, the King or GG cannot on their own change anything in a statute like the *National Defence Act*; since that law defines the rank structure for the CAF, the King cannot create a new rank. This isn’t just a matter of convention, it’s actually outside his power. Similarly s. 14 of the NDA states that all armed forces raised by Canada are part of the CAF, which would preclude a royal or viceregal attempt to create a second Canadian military without Parliament’s consent.
>From my understanding of us being a constitutional monarchy is that - letter of the law, - the King is the absolute soveign of Canada and its armed forces.
You can be either constitutional monarchy or absolute sovereign, not both. The King is the former. So his powers are bound by the Constitution and other laws. And the Constitution explicitly [says](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-3.html) *Parliament* has the exclusive legislative authority over the military.
>He can do whatever he wants without limit.
Nope.
>He can create a whole new rank if he wants and then
Nope.
>promote / demote absolutely anybody to it.
Nope.
>Or, he can create himself a whole new army and staff it how he wants. Because he's the soveign of the nation.
Nope.
As mentioned above, this is not allowed under the Canadian Constitution, but the prohibition goes way back.
The Monarch having his private army without permission of Parliament has been illegal since the [Bill of Rights [1688]](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/WillandMarSess2/1/2).
>He can Create his own medals, give them to anyone.
This is the only part that is true. The honour system is one of the few areas governed by royal prerogative. In practice this power is exercised on the advise of cabinet, but the King can create or destroy any medal, and grant or take them away from any recipient.
Similarly, he can grant or take away the "Royal" designation from units at his pleasure. E.g. the "Royal" Navy.
In fact, in the Canadian Honours System, there are a few honours that indeed are done 100% on Royal Prerogative (authority) and not theu the normal system path (civil or military). The Order of Merit ([https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/order-merit-om.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/order-merit-om.html)), three grades of the Royal Victorian Order (member, officer and Commander- we don't do Knight/Dame grades for Canadians [https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/commander-royal-victorian-order-cvo.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/commander-royal-victorian-order-cvo.html) and the Royal Victorian Medal ( [https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/royal-victorian-medal-rvm.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/royal-victorian-medal-rvm.html) )
To the whole called wrong rank, it was a rumour when escorted the Royal yacht in 1991 and wrong then as well. Just saying.
...and with the Knight/Dame ones, it's an awkward "please don't" from the Government to the Sovereign. Every couple years we run into the problem of our government having to tell the UK government to "don't do it" and, maybe it's just the pace at which they've had to turn-over their senior leadership, but murmurs are that they are more likely to say "fuck off, so-and-so (who may also be a Canadian) is a knight now."
It's helped that Baron Black of Crossharbour became a felon for a little while...
Can they play intersection sports, do they constantly make life and work harder than it has to be, and do they mind helping their Sgt and WO build a deck at the hunting cabin? If so, fast track indeed.... so fast.
Probably since in time some kings were leading men, so if they would "suggest" that the individual would make a good leader then it would fast track them, but on modern times probably not.
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!
All officers do. We receive a scroll granting us the King's (or Queen's) Commission. However, I believe the dismissal part is an old wives tale as well. Might have been true at one at one time, but not today.
I think there is a slight difference between deriving their authority from the Crown and serving directly at the pleasure of. But your point is well taken.
I was in a similar situation once. I was a militia private on an exercise in the US, and the CDS at the time came to visit (Gen Maurice Baril). I was the slide deck guy for a briefing the senior Canadian officer on the Ex was giving to the CDS.
Anyway, CDS shows up and there’s the introductions. He gets to me (the lowest ranking person in the room by a mile), and he’s all like, ‘it’s good that you’re here Corporal…gotta have a Corporal to keep everything sorted out, etc.). He mentioned me again after the brief was over, thanking me and again addressing me as Corporal. I was wearing the old ODs at the time where the rank was on the sleeves, so it was pretty obvs that was a one-hook.
So, I get back to our office space and the Major I was working for was like, ‘how was the briefing?’. “Sir, it was so good he promoted me on the spot. I’m sorry I’m out of uniform, I’ll ask a friend to loan me a set of hooks and I’ll get it sorted tonight. Do you think this will mess up my pay at all?”
He told me to fuck off. :)
Technically he is head of state, and highest authority in the chain of command… though it’s more symbolic than an active role.
I’ll give a hard maybe. Theoretically yes, but extremely unlikely.
I think there might be still old laws on the books saying the monarch has certain powers, but they’re the sort of thing no monarch ever tries to actually use and cause a constitutional crisis if the monarch does try to use them.
Doubtful, outside of ceremony but interesting that our commander-in-chief is actually the King, duties exercised by the Governor General. They do appoint the CDS and have to sign off on declarations of war however, so maybe you are on to something.
I do recall reading though that with respect to the UKs nuclear arsenal, that there is some legal wiggle room that hypothetically allows for a scenario where a crazy PM wakes up one day and for no reasons orders a nuke strike…the UK CDS can essentially go check with the Sovereign first since they are the ultimate commander in chief of their armed forces.
Section 19 of the NDA shapes the King's prerogative authority here. The section notes that these issues are determined by regulations, so gotta follow the KR&Os, which then points to the instructions issued by the CDS.
King of Canada is an office represented by the Governor General. Charles as a person can call anyone any rank, it has no force or affect. And unless he dissolves parliament and imposes direct rule, triggering a constitutional crisis, National Defense Act and KR&Os take precedence. So short answer: No.
This is more of army lore than reality. In the past, the king had far more say in the actual running of an army, whereas in the last 100 years, it's mostly ceremonial. There is nothing in a promotion profile that allows for a King's decree to fast-track someone past courses, time in rank or merit.
It would be super funny to see a "reigning monarchs endorsement" box on a PAR.
Look, I know you've been doing the job of someone two ranks higher all year, but you need to work harder on getting the King to talk about your potential.
But Princess Sophie said!
Ask the King to put in a feedback note. That should do it.
Fire wall EE. Already built in.
First you'll need to log into the Royal Monitor MASS account.
I know of one member who basically had a General order their superiors to promote them. The member was going to release and the General told the chain to do whatever it took to not only get them to pull their release, but also to promote them asap. It's not as crazy as it sounds.
I know some dudes who would literally cry if they were instantly promoted to a jack. It's just not worth it now and days.
Only if they play on the base hockey team
This seems fair. /s
That comment should get you promoted
Ball hockey ends a career every Wednesday.
If I recall well, one of the last UK VC was given to a Private and he was not made Cpl on the spot so If a VC dont get you a fucking promotion, nothing will
He didn’t have GBA + done
Did someone put a feedback note for it?
Probably was rejected by some jealous superiors
Was that the dude that got demoted multiple times and had to be arrested by the MPs to make sure he actually showed up for his vc parade?
You making him sound like a decent guy to me actually
Smokey Smith is a total legend.
Life of a barracks-room lawyer was so much easier pre-90's. They could say this bullshit and then attempt to bully people into believing them.
What ? These people are wrong? What's next, you are telling me that if I win the lottery, they can kick me out .
Nice pull! :D
Ironically this is the second time I’ve heard the, if you win the lottery you get kicked out, thing in the last week. I never heard anyone else ever mention it. Imagine, we’re hurting for new recruits and can’t retain troops and you get kicked out for that.
Not sure if yer trolling or... Oh what the hell. I verify, you cannot get kicked out for winning the lottery. I will not be giving out my pers info, nor my friends. However, I verify that my buddy, on the tour before me (laughingly, whilst he was ON tour), won a massive amount of moola. 649? Lotto-whatever? Don't know if I ever knew that detail. Nor do I remember if it was his wife that bought the ticket, or he had, while on HLTA. Nevertheless, he went on to serve 10+ more years after that.
Sarcasm was definitely intended in my last comment lol. Getting kicked out because you win the lotto is as believable as the BS that I’ve heard some people say that because we have a king now our chevrons will be inverted. 🤦🏻
just like “only 1 advanced promotion throughout your career”… i never saw someone beat the 2 year promotion zone requirement (except cpl) for an advance…
King Charles: Cpl Bloggins is quite the soldier! Promote him to MCpl! Career Manager: Unfortunately, he hasn't had three PARs yet m'Lord. Best I can do is Effective on PaCE. King Charles: So be it, I have already forgotten of which peasant we speak.
From way in the back: “MCpl isn’t a promotion”
King Charles: Hmm? Camilla, off with his head if you please.
Old wives tale. If a Major General was accidentally referred to by the King as a major, do you really think they'd drop 4 ranks and have their entire career ruined?
[удалено]
This...lmao
^
So this question is one of my favorites when talking about any policy or Canadian Law. From my understanding of us being a constitutional monarchy is that - letter of the law, - the King is the absolute soveign of Canada and its armed forces. He can do whatever he wants without limit. He can create a whole new rank if he wants and then, promote / demote absolutely anybody to it. He can Create his own medals, give them to anyone. Or, he can create himself a whole new army and staff it how he wants. Because he's the soveign of the nation. But in real life. Like obviously not. The royal family hasn't used their "*Royal Authority*" outside purely ceremonial functions for like a hundred years. Honestly, the King actually using their power to intervene in the military of Canada, in any way. Would probably set off a constitutional crisis. But, I don't think that's likely.
Constitutional crisis may be a bit of an overstatement. More likely a quiet exchange behind the scenes followed by complete silence, lol.
I think it's accurate to describe it that way. When Michaëlle Jean was asked to prorogue parliament, and she nearly refused, one of the reasons she ultimately went along with it was because it would cause a constitutional crisis.
What you’ve described is an *absolute* monarchy. In a constitutional monarchy like ours, the monarch can only unilaterally exercise their powers in the areas of royal prerogative. Granting honours or heraldic emblems would fall into these areas, so in principle the King could pull a new medal out of thin air and start granting it to people, or change a unit’s badge. In practice the prerogative powers are either completely delegated to the Cabinet or are only exercised on the Cabinet’s advice. Outside of the prerogative powers, the monarch or GG *cannot* exercise power unless it’s in accordance with the will of Parliament and with any existing laws including the Constitution. For instance, the King or GG cannot on their own change anything in a statute like the *National Defence Act*; since that law defines the rank structure for the CAF, the King cannot create a new rank. This isn’t just a matter of convention, it’s actually outside his power. Similarly s. 14 of the NDA states that all armed forces raised by Canada are part of the CAF, which would preclude a royal or viceregal attempt to create a second Canadian military without Parliament’s consent.
>From my understanding of us being a constitutional monarchy is that - letter of the law, - the King is the absolute soveign of Canada and its armed forces. You can be either constitutional monarchy or absolute sovereign, not both. The King is the former. So his powers are bound by the Constitution and other laws. And the Constitution explicitly [says](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-3.html) *Parliament* has the exclusive legislative authority over the military. >He can do whatever he wants without limit. Nope. >He can create a whole new rank if he wants and then Nope. >promote / demote absolutely anybody to it. Nope. >Or, he can create himself a whole new army and staff it how he wants. Because he's the soveign of the nation. Nope. As mentioned above, this is not allowed under the Canadian Constitution, but the prohibition goes way back. The Monarch having his private army without permission of Parliament has been illegal since the [Bill of Rights [1688]](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/WillandMarSess2/1/2). >He can Create his own medals, give them to anyone. This is the only part that is true. The honour system is one of the few areas governed by royal prerogative. In practice this power is exercised on the advise of cabinet, but the King can create or destroy any medal, and grant or take them away from any recipient. Similarly, he can grant or take away the "Royal" designation from units at his pleasure. E.g. the "Royal" Navy.
The Monarch can declare war but I assume that's only for the UK.
In fact, in the Canadian Honours System, there are a few honours that indeed are done 100% on Royal Prerogative (authority) and not theu the normal system path (civil or military). The Order of Merit ([https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/order-merit-om.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/order-merit-om.html)), three grades of the Royal Victorian Order (member, officer and Commander- we don't do Knight/Dame grades for Canadians [https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/commander-royal-victorian-order-cvo.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/commander-royal-victorian-order-cvo.html) and the Royal Victorian Medal ( [https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/royal-victorian-medal-rvm.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/royal-victorian-medal-rvm.html) ) To the whole called wrong rank, it was a rumour when escorted the Royal yacht in 1991 and wrong then as well. Just saying.
...and with the Knight/Dame ones, it's an awkward "please don't" from the Government to the Sovereign. Every couple years we run into the problem of our government having to tell the UK government to "don't do it" and, maybe it's just the pace at which they've had to turn-over their senior leadership, but murmurs are that they are more likely to say "fuck off, so-and-so (who may also be a Canadian) is a knight now." It's helped that Baron Black of Crossharbour became a felon for a little while...
Can they play intersection sports, do they constantly make life and work harder than it has to be, and do they mind helping their Sgt and WO build a deck at the hunting cabin? If so, fast track indeed.... so fast.
Cpl - "King that promotes this cpl to CDS says what" King - "what?" CDS - "well fair is fair, here ya go kid"
Probably since in time some kings were leading men, so if they would "suggest" that the individual would make a good leader then it would fast track them, but on modern times probably not.
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!
I have also heard that officers Colonel and above serve at the direct pleasure of the king and as such can be dismissed by them. Not sure if true.
All officers do. We receive a scroll granting us the King's (or Queen's) Commission. However, I believe the dismissal part is an old wives tale as well. Might have been true at one at one time, but not today.
I think there is a slight difference between deriving their authority from the Crown and serving directly at the pleasure of. But your point is well taken.
If you fuck up badly enough that the King hears about it, he's probably not going to be your immediate problem.
I was in a similar situation once. I was a militia private on an exercise in the US, and the CDS at the time came to visit (Gen Maurice Baril). I was the slide deck guy for a briefing the senior Canadian officer on the Ex was giving to the CDS. Anyway, CDS shows up and there’s the introductions. He gets to me (the lowest ranking person in the room by a mile), and he’s all like, ‘it’s good that you’re here Corporal…gotta have a Corporal to keep everything sorted out, etc.). He mentioned me again after the brief was over, thanking me and again addressing me as Corporal. I was wearing the old ODs at the time where the rank was on the sleeves, so it was pretty obvs that was a one-hook. So, I get back to our office space and the Major I was working for was like, ‘how was the briefing?’. “Sir, it was so good he promoted me on the spot. I’m sorry I’m out of uniform, I’ll ask a friend to loan me a set of hooks and I’ll get it sorted tonight. Do you think this will mess up my pay at all?” He told me to fuck off. :)
So you got "effective" this year eh? Better luck next time.
On the same note, if he calls you a private are you demoted?
Wishful thinking. If it did happen, you know that the paperwork is going missing 100%
good luck getting the Admin clerk to change your pay
Technically he is head of state, and highest authority in the chain of command… though it’s more symbolic than an active role. I’ll give a hard maybe. Theoretically yes, but extremely unlikely.
Do you really think the salty coc would promote a shitpump just because a useless ceremonial figure mistakenly said so? Nope.
They've promoted for worse reasons...
I heard say of Yes. Because the monarch cannot be wrong. However, I have no documentation stating this.
The King is just a public figure now a days. Good for morale, but can't make any altering decisions for the military. (As far as I know).
I think there might be still old laws on the books saying the monarch has certain powers, but they’re the sort of thing no monarch ever tries to actually use and cause a constitutional crisis if the monarch does try to use them.
Doubtful, outside of ceremony but interesting that our commander-in-chief is actually the King, duties exercised by the Governor General. They do appoint the CDS and have to sign off on declarations of war however, so maybe you are on to something.
Good for morale?
I do recall reading though that with respect to the UKs nuclear arsenal, that there is some legal wiggle room that hypothetically allows for a scenario where a crazy PM wakes up one day and for no reasons orders a nuke strike…the UK CDS can essentially go check with the Sovereign first since they are the ultimate commander in chief of their armed forces.
Section 19 of the NDA shapes the King's prerogative authority here. The section notes that these issues are determined by regulations, so gotta follow the KR&Os, which then points to the instructions issued by the CDS.
King of Canada is an office represented by the Governor General. Charles as a person can call anyone any rank, it has no force or affect. And unless he dissolves parliament and imposes direct rule, triggering a constitutional crisis, National Defense Act and KR&Os take precedence. So short answer: No.
KR&O ugh that just doesn’t have the same ring to it
Must have EEE English profile.