| Commonwealth of California | ||||||
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| Motto E pluribus unum (Latin) Out of many, one | ||||||
| Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner  Royal Anthem | ||||||
 Location of California within North America
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| Capital | Sonoma | |||||
| Languages | English (official) Spanish French | |||||
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||
| Monarch | ||||||
| - | 1850 – 1901 (first) | Victoria | ||||
| - | 1952 – 2000 (last) | Elizabeth | ||||
| Governor General | ||||||
| - | 1851 – 1854 (first) | The Earl of Launceston | ||||
| - | 1996 – 2000 (last) | Ted Kennedy | ||||
| Chancellor | ||||||
| - | 1851 – 1854 (first) | John C. Fremont | ||||
| - | 1998 – 2000 (last) | Al Gore | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||
| - | Upper house | House of Councillors | ||||
| - | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| History | ||||||
| - | Californian Revolution | 1846–1848 | ||||
| - | Proclamation of Loyalty | 9 September 1850 | ||||
| - | Constitution | 1 January 1851 | ||||
| - | Dominion Act | 11 December 1931 | ||||
| - | California Act | 17 April 1982 | ||||
| - | Monarchy abolished | 23 July 2000 | ||||
| Currency | Californian Dollar ($) | |||||
| Today part of |  California
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From 9 September 1850 until 23 July 2000, the Commonwealth of California was a Dominion of the Empire of Cygnia, and later a Commonwealth realm, under a constitutional monarchy. Throughout the existence of the monarchy, the Cygnian monarch served simultaneously as the monarch of California, beginning with Queen Victoria and ending with Queen Elizabeth.
The federal government of California was modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, which was used in Cygnia. The monarch was represented in California by the Governor General, who was appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Chancellor, the country's head of government.
During the later years of the monarchy, the Californian monarchy became understood as an office distinct from the monarchy of Cygnia. After the passage of the California Act by the Cygnian Congress in 1982, California's final legislative and judicial links with the Cygnian government were severed, and it became a de jure fully independent state, although it had been de facto independent since 1931, and to a limited extent since the Commonwealth's foundation in 1850.
In 1999, Californians voted to abolish the monarchy, and in July 2000, Queen Elizabeth visited California to officially abdicate and dissolve the monarchy. The final Governor General, Ted Kennedy, immediately after was sworn in as the first President of California, ending the 150-year-old monarchy.
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