Great Seal of the Realm

Common card · No. 262150

The Great Seal of the Realm is a seal that is used in the United Kingdom to symbolise the sovereign's approval of state documents, today given on the advice of the government of the day. It is also known as the Great Seal of the United Kingdom (known prior to the Treaty of Union of 1707 as the Great Seal of England, and from then until the Union of 1801 as the Great Seal of Great Britain). To make it, granules of a thermoplastic (once wax) are softened in a silver mould or matrix and impressed into a plastic figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the monarch wishes to seal officially. The formal keeper of the seal is the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Scotland has had its own great seal since the 14th century. The Acts of Union 1707, joining the kingdoms of Scotland and England, provided for the use of a single Great Seal for the new Kingdom of Great Britain. However, it also provided for the continued use of a separate Scottish seal to be used there, and this...

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