Acting to end an unprecedented hiatus in the series of hypothetically annual meetings of the Kingdoms' parliament, His Grace, the Duke of Minhiriath, Lord Great Steward, summoned His August Majestie's Council-General into session for September 4, 2005 (21 Ivanneth 7558). In an odd echo of the Twenty-Sixth Council-General, it developed that the designated site was unavailable, and Her Grace, the Duchess of Belfalas, Mistress of the Robes, and Lord Lamedon once again invited the Peers and Great Men and Women of the Realms to gather in their home.
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Elizabeth, Duchess of Belfalas
At the appointed time, His Grace the Steward convened the Accession Council. His Grace explained that it has been his preference to hold public sessions of the Council, in order openly to interview possible claimants to the Throne. In this case, however, he proceeded to poll the two Accession Councillors present (His Excellency, The Master of Esgaroth and His Grace, the Duke of Numenor, Regent), determining that no new claimants had been identified. It appeared for a few moments that the Steward might have forgotten the other business on the Council's agenda, but after a certain amount of throat-clearing from some distinguished quarters, His Grace took up the question of recommending that the current Regent remain in office, a motion which quickly received support from the other two councillors.
The Council-General itself then formed, with Lord Lamedon, as Belfalas Herald, acting in the traditional place of the Rt. Hon. the Baron Min-Rimmon, Osgiliath Herald; Her Grace (having at one time and another in the past held both offices) presided in lieu of the Lord President of the Councils and the Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal.
Her Grace introduced to the Councillors a new citizen, Mr. Quincy Nang, whom she had appointed a member of her household. Mr. Nang renewed his Oath before the assembly, and was formally welcomed by Their Graces.
The Government had not availed itself of the privilege of providing a Speech from the Throne, so His Grace the Steward took the floor in his own right and discussed the current state of His August Majestie's Realms. Having obtained unanimous consent to vary from the usual agenda, His Grace the Regent then continued the report with a discussion of foreign affairs: together with the Rt. Hon. the Viscount Tookland, Secretary of State. His Grace had met informally with representatives of the Forodrim during a visit to Birmingham, England, renewing the historic ties between His August Majestie's two Governments
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(In Birmingham: L to R, His Grace the Regent; Sir Beregond, KE; Lord Tookland; His Highness, Prince Theoden; Her Highness, Princess Brethil)
When the Council turned to proposed legislation, His Grace the Steward announced that, whereas he had contemplated introducing a resolution which would have forbidden the use of cell phones in the Council chamber, he had, on reflection, determined simply to issue a regulation to that effect on his authority as Lord Great Chamberlain (a Great Office of State His Grace did not resign on his election to the High Ministry of the Stewardship).
His Grace the Regent then proposed "The Lords Lieutenant and Lieutenant Governors Act of 7558." The Act, which followed on the provisions of a Resolution of the 27th Council-General, took the unusual step of amending an Act of the Privy Council (an anomaly which required special language to prevent the amendment from being of greater statutory weight than the rest of the original law). The effect of the new legislation is to provide for royal officials in the Administrative Areas and Palatine Duchies below the level of Governors-General or Palatine Dukes--Lieutenant Governors, in the former case, and Lords Lieutenant, in the latter. After some minor friendly amendments, the Act passed without objection, XXXIII ACG 1.
The Regent then turned to a housekeeping matter, related to the structure of the Council itself. His Grace had, he reported, issued (pursuant to his Palatine Authority to create peers of the rank of baron and baronet) a Warrant to His Grace the Steward, directing the issuance of a Writ of Summons to the Council-General in Acceleration for Sir Sumner Tristan Hunnewell (heir of the Viscount Tookland) in right of his father's barony of Hunnewell-of-Tuckborough. A Writ in Acceleration, in effect, adds another peer to the Council, but (by using the subsidiary title of an existing peer) avoids the permanent creation of a new peerage. A similar situation might soon, he noted, obtain with respect to the Lord Great Steward's Dukedom of Minhiriath; but even though it might be possible for the Steward's elder son to be summoned in acceleration as Baron Calenhad, a more elegant solution suggested itself. The heir to the Stewardship is, by ancient right, High Captain of the White Tower. The list of statutory Councillors-General in the Councillors-General Act of 7540 might, then, be amended to provide that the High Captain, if not a minor, be a member of the Council. The proposed Act passed without objection (though not without a certain amount of joking at the expense of the High Captain, who was present for the Council, about the onerous duties he could expect to be taking on in a few years' time), XXXIII ACG 2.
Postponing, as has lately been the custom, the usual break for refreshments, the Council turned to the usual elections. The Accession Council's report having been made (somewhat superfluously, as everyone in the room had been present for the Accession Council meeting), His Grace the Regent renewed his oath of office. His Grace the Steward, noting the difficult experienced by the Most Honourable the Privy Council in meeting over the past several years, suggested that increased geographic proximity might make the conduct of business easier, and moved that Her Grace and Lord Lamedon be elected to serve as Lady President of the Councils and as Keeper of the Great Seal (the title used when the Chancellorship is vested in someone who is not him- or herself a peer). The suggestion met with immediate approval, and the eventual acceptance of those involved, leading, as the Regent pointed out, to Her Grace's twelfth term in one or the other of the two great elective offices.
The Oaths having been taken, Her Grace declared the proceedings closed, summoned the Privy Council into session, and, moving to the organ, led the company in singing of the Patriotic Air. A lavish spread of refreshments followed.
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