Accession Council

In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St James's Palace in London upon the death of a monarch to make formal proclamation of the accession of the successor to the throne. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, a new monarch succeeds automatically (demise of the Crown). The proclamation confirms by name the identity of the new monarch, expresses loyalty to the "lawful and rightful Liege Lord", and formally announces the new monarch's regnal name, while the council witnesses, in front of the council, sign and seal several documents concerning the accession. The privy council is then called into the presence of the monarch to hear the monarch's address and the witness monarch's signing and sealing of documents. An Accession Council has confirmed every English (and later, British) monarch since James I in 1603.^[1]