WORLD : Queen Swears In Prime Minister
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LONDON — Prime Minister John Major was sworn into office today by Queen Elizabeth II at a Privy Council meeting at Buckingham Palace.
During the ceremony, which has taken place since the Middle Ages, Major and the five new members of his 22-member Cabinet in charge of government departments kissed the monarch’s hand and were made lifetime members of the Privy Council, a body of just under 400 royal councilors.
A privy councilor, man or woman, is entitled to be called “Right Honorable” and remains a member for life.
The council is now very much a ceremonial body, superseded by the Cabinet, but it was once the monarch’s executive, a group of about a dozen people who carried out the monarch’s orders.
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