State Opening of Council, V Legislature

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19th August 2017, Province of Tytannia

To the most honourable gathered representatives, and to all who may hear this, greetings.

It is with great pleasure that Our Imperial Majesty hereby declares that the term of the Fifth Legislature of the Ruling Council has officially begun, and shall last from now until July 2018, covering twelve meetings of Council.

In this Council assembled, the five Provinces of the Empire of Adammia are represented by means of their landed noble and their elected Councilor; furthermore, delegates represent our Colonies far from this chamber, and our citizens living abroad in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. These twelve representatives who form the Council during its Fifth Legislature are as follows: present on behalf of the Province of Primoria are the Duke of Primoria, His Imperial Highness Prince Jake, and the Councilor of Primoria, His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Daniel; on behalf of the Province of Maternia are the Duke of Maternia, His Grace Sir Paul McKenna, and the Councilor of Maternia, Her Imperial Highness Emperor Mother Jayne; on behalf of the Province of Tytannia are the Duke of Tytannia, His Grace Sir David Hall, and the Councilor of Tytannia, His Grace Sir Reginald Hall; on behalf of the Province of Watertopia are the Duke of Watertopia, His Grace Sir Matthew Foster, and the Councilor of Watertopia, Her Grace Madam Julie Foster; on behalf of the Province of Myway are the Duke of Myway, His Grace Sir Christopher Hall, and the Councilor of Myway, Eleanor Hall; on behalf of the Colonies is Our Imperial Majesty, and on behalf of our citizens abroad is Lord Sir Andrew Hall.

As dictated to us by our most venerated fundamental law, the Supreme Directive, this legislature oversees an executive government led by a Prime Minister elected by the peoples of the Empire. The Prime Minister for this term was elected in a National Election one week ago. Of the candidates who stood in that election, His Imperial Highness Prince Jake recieved 11 votes, Her Imperial Highness Emperor Mother Jayne recieved 9 votes, and His Grace Sir Paul McKenna recieved 4 votes. Thus, His Imperial Highness Prince Jake has been elected as the third Prime Minister of the Empire of Adammia. The appointment of a new Cabinet is due to be announced, pending the outcome of our business of the day which concerns a reorganisation of government departments.

In the past year, the Empire and its government were able to cope robustly with decreased activity as a result of the beginning of my studies at the University of Birmingham. However, the Empire in its current state is experiencing stagnant and in some ways negative growth, and achieved little during the fourth legislature besides simply ticking over. We hope that we will be able to rectify this during this term. The proposed tapestry, a pictorial history of the Empire, will be our first national project since 2014. We also recognise that inefficiences caused by inactivity here in the provinces may necessitate the relocation of government functions elsewhere in the long-term. As a result, the Office of the Emperor shall be using the full extent of resources available to it, including the Military, to expand the Empire's operations within the student community of the University of Birmingham at a much faster rate than in the year which has gone by. It is our aim that the Empire's capital can be relocated to Birmingham by the end of this term, where it will likely remain for at least two years. Therefore, this may well be the final term of this Ruling Council which sits in Tytannia. This may, I suspect, raise mixed emotions, as the first great era of Adammic history comes to an end. However, I shall seek to reassure members by stating that should this transition go ahead, all of our provinces here shall remain a key part of the Empire, that our traditional celebrations such as Foundation Day shall continue as they always have done, and that in terms of our culture and our society, it is these lands that are the old heartlands of the Empire, forever far more valuable than whatever other territorial holdings we may claim.

However, these long term plans need not concern the Council for the time being, and as always we encourage a productive term. There is much planned in the manifestos of the three parties which are represented here, and it is my aim to work with the parties to have legislation brought forward which reflects what the parties want to achieve. For the first time, we are scheduling the content of meetings in advance, with each party being given a certain number of meetings in which it can propose legislation of its choice based on the number of Council seats it has.

We move now to our business of the day.