| Governor of Bermuda | |
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 Coat of arms of Bermuda | |
 Flag of the governor of Bermuda | |
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| Viceroy | |
| Style | Her Excellency |
| Residence | Government House |
| Appointer | Monarch of the United Kingdom |
| Term length | At His Majesty's Pleasure |
| Formation | 1612 |
| First holder | Richard Moore |
| Website | Page on gov.bm |
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| Law |
| Administrative divisions |
The governor of Bermuda (officially Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)) is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda.
For the purposes of this article, Governor of Bermuda refers to the local office, although this was originally a Lieutenant-Governorship ("Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Our Islands in America commonly called or known by the name of the Bermuda or Summer (sic) Islands"; the Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda was re-titled Governor of Bermuda in 1738),[1] which – like the Lieutenant-Governorship of the Jamestown colony – was subordinate to the actual Governor located in England. For a period following the 1783 independence of those continental colonies that were to become the United States of America, the remaining continental colonies, Bermuda and the Bahamas were grouped together as British North America, and the civil, naval, military, and ecclesiastic government of Bermuda was made subordinate to the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New~Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty's Forces in the said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, and in the islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c., with the governor of Bermuda again becoming a Lieutenant-Governor. Although soon restored to a full civil Governorship, in his military role as Commander-in-chief he remained subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief in Halifax, and naval and ecclesiastic links to the Maritimes remained. The military links were severed by Canadian confederation at the end of the 1860s, when the governor of Bermuda, in his office of Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda, was elevated upon the removal of the British Army from Canada and the taking up by the Canadian Dominion Government of responsibility for the defence of all of the former British North American continental colonies excepting Newfoundland. The established Church of England in Bermuda, within which the governor held office as Ordinary, remained linked to the colony of Newfoundland under the same Bishop until 1919.
The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the de facto head of state, and is responsible for appointing the premier and the 11 members of the Senate (the upper house of Bermuda's Parliament).
The governor is also commander-in-chief of Bermuda, formerly in control of a large Bermuda Garrison composed of regular army, militia, volunteer, and territorial units, of which only the Royal Bermuda Regiment remains. Until 1867, the governor also held the appointment of vice-admiral of Bermuda.
The current governor is Rena Lalgie; she was sworn in on 14 December 2020.[2][3]
The governor has her own flag in Bermuda, a Union Flag with the territory's coat of arms superimposed.
- ^ Labaree, Leonard Woods (1967). Royal Instructions To British Colonial Governors, 1670–1776; Volume I (Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 67-18771. New York: American Historical Association and Octagon Books, Inc. Reprinted 1967 by special arrangement with Appleton-Century-Crofts, Division of Meredith Publishing Company (Albert J. Beveridge Memorial Fund). p. xiv.
- ^ McWhirter, Fiona; Johnston-Barnes, Owain (15 December 2020). "History made as new Governor is sworn in at closed event". The Royal Gazette (Bermuda). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Governor Rena Lalgie Arrives in Bermuda". Bernews. 14 December 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.