Minister of the Crown

This led to the creation of the larger Privy Council, with the Cabinet becoming a committee within that body, made up of currently serving ministers, who also were heads of departments.

During a period between the accession of King James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603 and the unification of Scotland and England in 1707, the two entities were separate kingdoms in personal union through the one monarch who was advised by a separate set of ministers of the Crown for each country.

As the English overseas possessions and later British Empire expanded, the colonial governments remained subordinate to the imperial government at Westminster, and thus the Crown was still ministered to only by the Imperial Privy Council, made up of British ministers of the Crown.

Thus, today, no minister of the Crown in any Commonwealth realm can advise the monarch to exercise any powers pertaining to any of the other Dominions.

For example, during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, when Carlos María Cortezo y Prieto de Orche was appointed as "Ministro de Instrucción Pública y Bellas Artes" (Minister for Public Instruction of Fine Arts), in the royal decree it was noted that he was a minister of the Crown.