What are letters patent?

Letters patent are a legal document authorised by the monarch, usually on ministerial advice. Letters patent can make public appointments, confer honours, grant city status or signify Royal Assent to legislation.

This Insight explains what letters patent are and what they are used for.

What are letters patent?

Letters patent are a type of legal document to which the Great Seal of the Realm is affixed. Letters patent particular to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are sealed with, respectively, the Scottish Seal, Welsh Seal and Great Seal of Northern Ireland. A simpler “Wafer” Great Seal, which is the obverse of the Great Seal, can also be used.

Letters patent are an “open letter” which expresses the will of the Monarch, usually on ministerial advice. Letters patent are classed as primary legislation (PDF). This is because the legislative power of the Crown is considered original and not subordinate.

Like many legal instruments, letters patent can either be statutory (where an act of parliament provides for their use) or issued under the royal prerogative (which means that the power to do so is generally recognised as particular to the Monarch).

The Lord Chancellor is formally responsible for sealing letters patent at the Crown Office, which is located in the House of Lords. The Crown Office (Preparation and Authentication of Documents Rules) Order 1988 specifies which letters patent should be prepared on vellum and which on paper, and lists those which can be wafer sealed. A system of colour coding is used for the seal impression. Dark green seals, for example, are affixed to letters patent which create peerages.

Several Statutory Instruments lay down the wording for some letters patent, which open with a recitation of the King’s style and titles. In other cases, the wording follows precedent. The Crown Office Fees Order 2013 specifies the fees to be charged for certain letters patent (this is reviewed every three years).

Many letters patent are “gazetted”, which means a notice is published in The Gazette, the UK’s official journal of record.

History of letters patent

After the eighth year of Henry VIII’s reign, all grants under the Great Seal came to be issued as letters patent. These included grants of lands, commissions, privileges and pardons. During the colonial period, letters patent were also used to frame the constitution of a British territory or constitute the office of governor.

Letters patent were originally written in Latin but after 1733 most have been in English. Documents were sometimes illuminated with a portrait of the Monarch in the top left corner.

Historically, letters patent were recorded on parchment and consequently sewn together head to tail to form a continuous “roll” for storage. The individual sections were known as “membranes”.

Modern “patent rolls” are in fact books and are bound together at the end of each regnal year (7 September, the day before King Charles III succeeded to the throne in 2022) before being sent to the National Archives for permanent retention. Legislation requires that letters patent signifying Royal Assent to Scottish and Welsh legislation are sent to the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and National Library of Wales respectively.

What are letters patent used for?

There are dozens of different types of letters patent. The process for those constituting public appointments can involve three separate documents (PDF):

• a warrant containing the King’s instructions to the Lord Chancellor to prepare letters patent
• the letters patent themselves
• a patent roll entry, which serves as a permanent record of the appointment

In some cases, the King’s approval will typically be sought via ministerial submission before more formal documents are prepared. Appointments made via letters patent include:

• the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 3 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866
• judges of the Supreme Court under section 23 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005
• senior judicial offices in England and Wales under section 10(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981
• the Attorney General and Solicitor General for England and Wales under the royal prerogative (letters patent confirm their appointment)
• regius professorships (also under the royal prerogative)
• the Clerk of the House of Commons (under the royal prerogative) and the Clerk of the Parliaments (under statute)

Other uses of letters patent include:

• Signifying Royal Assent to acts of the UK Parliament and measures of the General Synod under section 1 of the Royal Assent Act 1967
• Granting Royal Assent to acts of the Scottish Parliament, Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and Northern Ireland Assembly
• Altering or promulgating Canons of the Church of England
• Conferring royal titles. Letters patent issued by King George V in 1917 (and amended by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012) restricts the style “His or Her Royal Highness” and title of Prince and Princess
• Creating a Prince of Wales or a Princess Royal
• Delegating to Counsellors of State certain royal functions if the Monarch is ill or absent from the UK under section 6 of the Regency Act 1937
• Granting General Full Powers to the Foreign Secretary (and others), which authorise them to conclude treaties on behalf of the UK
• Creating life peerages (the form is set out in The Crown Office (Forms and Proclamations Rules) Order 1992)
• Conferring knighthoods in absentia or authorising other members of the royal family to confer knighthoods in person
• Granting city status or the dignity of Lord Mayor to a locality
• Changing the constitution of the Defence Council

Further reading

The royal prerogative and ministerial advice

Royal Assent

About the author: Dr David Torrance is a researcher at the House of Commons Library, specialising in monarchy and the constitution.

Photo: Royal Mint Press Office