Oath to the Crown?

[Fall River]

Greetings everyone, I hope you don't mind my first posting here.

I would like to get peoples' opinions on what exactly the oath of loyalty should mean to an individual. I became a Canadian citizen as a young person, coming from Eastern Europe, and swore an oath of loyalty to the British Crown at that time. I now live settled in the U.S.A.

I'm looking for perspectives on what this oath of loyalty would mean to you? I'm confident I haven't done anything disloyal, and I have always had a positive opinion of the Crown, but on the other hand I haven't thought about it in many years either. I'm a very non-spiritual person in general, but then again an oath can be a serious thing...

Thank you and my apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this question.

 

[nascarlucy]

IMO this is more of formality than anything else in Canada. I don't think it literally means loyalty to the British Crown as far as individuals goes. I would imagine if a war time situation came up and someone did something which violated that oath (favored the side against the British crown or was found to have tried to help those who were considered enemies of the British Crown), then they could be a serious problem. This would also be a crime against the state of Canada as well

When an American says the Pledge of Allegiance, this is a similar type loyalty oath except this is the United State of America as opposed to the Briitish Crown.

 

[NGalitzine]

Not sure when you took your oath in Canada but I believe the oath is "I swear allegiance to HM Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen of Canada, and to her heirs and successors according to law....", so when you take the oath it is not to the British Crown but to Canada and the Canadian monarch. At least that was the oath I took a couple of years ago when I did a project for the Canadian government.

 

[Mermaid1962]

This is my understanding as well. The Crown represents the nation of Canada. You made a promise to be loyal to Canada when you promised to be loyal to the Queen.

 

[Fall River]

Thank you for your replies. I took the citizenship oath in the late 1970s and it was: "I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen."

So it's a 2 part oath, basically separate oaths to the Queen and to Canada. It seems to me that the oath to the Queen is really to the Crown since it talks about heirs and successors.

I obviously wouldn't get involved in disloyal activities (to any country), so is that basically all this oath asks for or does it go deeper than that? I was curious because even in the UK, only a small handful of people like MPs and army swear allegiance to the Queen.

 

[Mermaid1962]

When I worked for a provincial government in the 80s, I signed a piece of paper that said much the same thing as well as another paper that was a promise of confidentiality. I'd expect that those becoming new citizens in the UK would also swear allegiance to the Crown.

 

[doric44]

Well that's it now you have to do whatever she says or else it's the tower of London for you lol

 

[Admiral Horthy]

Legally everything the government of Canada does is in the name of the Queen, who is embodiment of the Crown and personification of the nation. Obviously no monarch can run a nation as large as Canada let alone the Commonwealth, so HM's ministers do everything in her name. Very similar to the United States where some of our states use the term "The People of (state) vs John Doe" as an example.

In the US all authority is derived from the people, in Canada power is derived from the Crown, represented by the Queen currently. In the US new citizens swear true faith and allegiance to the constitution. In Canada to the Queen. It is symbolism, very important symbolism because it means you accept and will defend the government of your new nation. A presidential republic in the US and a parliamentary monarchy in Canada. That symbolism is why Australia's dropped swearing allegiance to the Queen, to slowly sever ties to the crown in preparation for a republic.

Of course neither the Queen of Canada nor the People of the United States actually hold much if any power.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

In most monarchies the oath is not to the Crown but to the person of the King.

In the Netherlands there are two oaths:

The purifying:
"I swear that I have, neither directly nor indirectly, under no any name or pre-condition, promised any gift or favour for being appointed in this Office.

I swear that I have, neither directly nor indirectly, under no any name or pre-condition, accepted any gift or favour for doing acts or to refrain from acts in this Office."


The oath:
"I swear loyalty to The King, to the Statute of the Kingdom and to the Constitution.
I swear that I will faithfully exercise the duties enforced by my Office.

So help me God almighty!"


Picture: The King of the Netherlands takes the Oath from the new Advocate-General at the High Council of the Netherlands (the Supreme Court of Justice), earlier this week.