Listed here are the monarchs who reigned over Canada, starting with the French colony of Canada, which subsequently became a British colony, followed by the British Dominion of Canada, and, finally, the present-day sovereign state of Canada.[11] The date of the first claim by a monarch over Canada varies, with most sources giving the year as 1497, when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on the North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia) and claimed the land for England on behalf of King Henry VII.[20] However, some sources, instead, put this date at 1535, when the word Canada was first used to refer to the French colony of Canada,[21] which was founded in the name of King Francis I.[22][23] Monarchical governance subsequently evolved under a continuous succession of French, British, and eventually uniquely Canadian sovereigns.[28] Since the first claim by Henry VII,[29] there have been 33 sovereigns of Canada, including two sets of co-sovereigns.[37]
While Canada became a Dominion within the British Empire upon Confederation in 1867,[38][39][40][41] the concept of a fully independent Canada sharing the person of the sovereign with the United Kingdom and other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, only emerged gradually over time through constitutional convention,[42] and was officially confirmed with the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.[43] Since then,[31] the Canadian Crown has been legally distinct from those of the other Commonwealth realms, with its own separate and distinct monarch.[N 1] Although the term king of Canada was used as early as the beginning of the reign of George VI,[45] it was not until 1953 that the monarch's title was made official, with Elizabeth II being the first monarch to be separately proclaimed as Queen of Canada, as per the Royal Style and Titles Act.
^Monet, Jacques. Marsh, James Harley (ed.). Governor General. Toronto: Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^Government of Canada (24 September 2014). "The Royal Family". The Queen's Printer for Canada. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
^Bousfield, Arthur; Toffoli, Garry. "The Sovereigns of Canada". Canadian Royal Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
^"Origin of the Name - Canada". Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. 18 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Monet, Jacques (2007). "Crown and Country"(PDF). Canadian Monarchist News. Summer 2007 (26). Toronto: Monarchist League of Canada: 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
^Bousfield, Arthur; Toffoli, Garry. "The Sovereigns of Canada". Canadian Royal Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
^Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (22 August 2013). "Kings and Queens of Canada". Queen's Printer for Ontario. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
^R v Foreign Secretary, Ex parte Indian Association (as referenced in High Court of Australia: Sue v Hill [1999] HCA 30; 23 June 1999; S179/1998 and B49/1998), QB 892 at 928 (English Court of Appeal June 1999).