The Right Honourable

or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations.

The term is predominantly used today as a style associated with the holding of certain senior public offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and, to a lesser extent, Australia.

According to the British government,[5] the following persons are entitled to be styled Right Honourable: Privy counsellors are appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister, and remain members for life unless they resign or are expelled.

In practice, membership of the privy council is granted to: A large proportion of the former and current prominent politicians of the United Kingdom are thus entitled to be styled Right Honourable.

[c] This applies to peers of all rank, as a holder of a dukedom or marquessate who becomes a Privy Counsellor retains their higher style and so could not be identified without the letters.

[30][31] In guidance issued in June 2003, the Crown Office recommended that the lord provosts of Aberdeen and Dundee be styled Right Honourable in the same manner as those of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

[28] The Chairman of the London County Council (LCC) was granted the style in 1935 as part of the celebrations of the silver jubilee of King George V.[32] The Chairman of the Greater London Council (GLC), the body that replaced the LCC in 1965, was similarly granted the style[33] until the GLC was abolished in 1986.

Right Honourable is also used as a style by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in office,[34][35][36] preceding his title rather than his personal name, as with other applications ex officio.

Currently, individuals who hold, or have held, one of the following offices are awarded the style of Right Honourable for life: The Right Honourable is not to be confused with His or Her Excellency, used by governors general during their term of office, or The Honourable, used only while in office (except in Nova Scotia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, where honorary members of the Executive Council enjoy the title permanently) by provincial premiers and cabinet ministers, and for life by senators and members of the King's Privy Council for Canada (chiefly cabinet ministers, as well as other figures such as party leaders or provincial premiers who may be appointed from time to time).

This has been done on two occasions: to eight prominent political figures to mark the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 1992,[e] and to longtime Member of Parliament Herb Gray upon his retirement in 2002.

Raila Odinga also known as Baba (Political father and Enigma) is a towering icon in Africa, well known for his Pan-Africanism and championing for good governance.The prime ministers of Namibia and Uganda are both currently styled with the same honorific.

In South Korea, the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly and Chief Justice can use the Right Honourable style.

[citation needed] In Australia, the lord mayors of Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney are entitled to be styled Right Honourable while in office.

Typical appointees to the Imperial Privy Council included senior politicians and judges at state and federal level.

Nevertheless, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, like some of his counterparts in Great Britain, retained the use of the honorific style as a result of its having been conferred separately by legislation; in 2001 it was removed, as a consequence of local government law reform.

[citation needed] In Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) the British practice was followed with Ceylonese members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom were styled Right Honourable and were referred to as Mahamanya in Sinhala.

This engraving of George Cornewall Lewis includes The Right Honourable in its caption, reflecting the Home Secretary position he held at the time of its creation.
Queen Victoria holding a meeting of her Privy Council. All privy counsellors are styled Right Honourable (unless they are personally entitled to a higher style).
The parliamentary robes of a baron, worn by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu . Peers of the rank of baron, viscount or earl are entitled to the style Right Honourable .
Gavyn Farr Arthur , the 675th Lord Mayor of London , was entitled to be styled "The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London" during his year in office.
In the House of Commons , members use honourable and right honourable when referring to one another.