The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords.

The Privy Council formally advises the sovereign on the exercise of the royal prerogative. The King-in-Council issues executive instruments known as Orders in Council. The Privy Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. It advises the sovereign on the issuing of royal charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, and city or borough status to local authorities. Otherwise, the Privy Council's powers have now been largely reserved to its executive committee, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, which thus serves as the senior decision-making body of the government. The council is administratively headed by the Lord President of the Council who is a member of the cabinet, and is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Certain judicial functions are also performed by the King-in-Council, although in practice its actual work of hearing and deciding upon cases is carried out day-to-day only by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Judicial Committee consists of senior judges appointed as privy counsellors: predominantly justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, as well as some senior judges from other Commonwealth nations. The Privy Council by its Judicial Committee was formerly the final court of appeal for litigants in courts throughout the British Empire (but not for most cases in the United Kingdom itself). It continues to be the highest court of appeal for some Commonwealth countries, Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, as well as for a few institutions in the United Kingdom.

History

The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, created on 1 January 1801, was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the Privy Council of England, and the Privy Council of Great Britain (1708–1800). Its continued existence has been described as "more or less a constitutional and historical accident".. Quote is of Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon. The key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below:

In Anglo-Saxon England, the Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a royal court or , which consisted of magnates, ecclesiastics and high officials. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration and justice.Dicey, pp. 6–7. Later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, while Parliament became the supreme legislature of the kingdom.Dicey, p. 24. Nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal.Dicey, pp. 12–14. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, rather than on the advice of Parliament, were accepted as valid.Gay, p. 2. Powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. For example, a committee of the Council—which later became the Court of the Star Chamber—was during the 15th century permitted to inflict any punishment except death, without being bound by normal court procedure.Maitland, pp. 262–263. During Henry VIII's reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation. The legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIII's death.Maitland, p. 253. By 1540 the nineteen-member council had become a new national institution, most probably the creation of Thomas Cromwell, without there being exact definitions of its powers.Wilson, Derek. (1973). A Tudor tapestry : Men, women and society in Reformation England. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. . p. 130, footnote no. 12 pp. 256–257. Cf. Elton, G.R. The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII. pp. 316 ff. The Internet Archive website Retrieved 13 March 2021. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became a primarily administrative body.Goodnow, p. 123 In 1553 the Council consisted of forty members,Maitland, p. 256. whereas Henry VII swore over a hundred servants to his council.Elton, G.R. (1953). The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 318. . The Internet Archive website. Retrieved 13 March 2021. Sovereigns relied on a smaller working committee which evolved into the modern Cabinet.

By the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws and to direct administrative policy. The forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons; the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to between thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs. The Council became known as the Protector's Privy Council; its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliament's approval.

In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protector's Council was abolished. King Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers.Warshaw, p. 7. The formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 combined the Privy Councils of England and Scotland, the latter body coming to an end in 1708.

Under King George I, even more power transferred to a small committee of the Council, which began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the Sovereign; the role passed to a committee of the Council, now known as the Cabinet.Gay and Rees, pp. 2–3.

With the creation of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, a single Privy Council was created for Great Britain and Ireland, although the Privy Council of Ireland continued to function until 1922, when it became defunct upon the creation of the Irish Free State as an independent Dominion outside the United Kingdom, but within the British Empire. The Privy Council of Northern Ireland was created in 1922, but became defunct in 1972, when the Parliament of Northern Ireland was closed down.

Functions

The sovereign may make Orders in Council upon the advice of the Privy Council. Orders in Council, which are drafted by the government rather than by the sovereign, are forms of either primary or secondary legislation, depending on the power they are made under. Orders made under prerogative powers, such as the power to grant royal assent to legislation, are a form of primary legislation, while orders made under statutory powers are a form of secondary legislation. approving The NHS Redress (Wales) Measure 2008, the first Measure to be passed by the Assembly on 6 May 2008.

Orders of Council, distinct from Orders in Council, are issued by members of the Privy Council without requiring the approval of the sovereign. Like Orders in Council, they can be made under statutory powers or royal prerogative. Orders of Council are most commonly used for the regulation of public institutions and regulatory bodies.

The sovereign also grants royal charters on the advice of the Privy Council. Charters bestow special status to incorporated bodies; they are used to grant chartered status to certain professional, educational or charitable bodies, and sometimes also city and borough status to towns. The Privy Council therefore deals with a wide range of matters, which also includes university and livery company statutes,Gay and Rees, p. 5. churchyards,H. Cox, p. 393. coinage and the dates of bank holidays. The Privy Council formerly had sole power to grant academic degree-awarding powers and the title of university, but following the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 these powers have been transferred to the Office for Students for educational institutions in England.Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (2017 c. 29 ss. 42–60).

Notable orders

Before the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 the UK Civil Service was governed and managed using powers within the royal prerogative. These powers were usually delegated to ministers by Orders in Council. Using these powers, Margaret Thatcher controversially determined to ban GCHQ staff from joining trade unions.

In another case dealing with civil service, the Civil Service (Amendment) Order in Council 1997 permitted the Prime Minister to grant up to three political or 'special advisers' management authority over some civil servants.BBC Radio 4—What's the Point of ... The Privy Council , 12 May 2009

In the 1960s, the Privy Council made an order to evict an estimated 1,200 to 2,000 inhabitants of the 55-island Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, in preparation for the establishment of a joint United States–United Kingdom military base on the largest island in the archipelago, Diego Garcia. In 2000, the High Court of Justice ruled that the inhabitants had a right to return to the archipelago. In 2004, the Privy Council, during the tenure of Jack Straw as Lord Chancellor (and thus head of the Privy Council) overturned the ruling. In 2006, the High Court of Justice found the Privy Council's decision to be unlawful. Justice Kentridge stated that there was no known precedent "for the lawful use of prerogative powers to remove or exclude an entire population of British subjects from their homes and place of birth",BBC—Court victory for Chagos families , 11 May 2006 and the Court of Appeal were persuaded by this argument upholding his decision when it came up to them. However, in 2007 the Law Lords of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, itself part of the Privy Council as the Judiciary Committee, found the first instance decision to be flawed and overturned the appeal court by 3–2, thereby upholding the validity of the Order in Council. On 22 May 2025, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, signed a formal agreement on the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Committees

The Privy Council have the following committees:

Baronetage Committee

The Baronetage Committee was established by a 1910 Order in Council, during Edward VII's reign, to scrutinise all succession claims (and thus reject doubtful ones) to be placed on the Roll of Baronets.

Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey

The Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey recommends approval of Channel Islands legislation.

Committee for the Purposes of the Crown Office Act 1877

The Committee for the purposes of the Crown Office Act 1877 consists of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Privy Seal as well as a secretary of state. The Committee, which last met in 1988, is concerned with the design and usage of wafer seals.

Executive Committee

The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the executive committee of the Privy Council and the senior decision-making body of British Government.

Judicial Committee