Archchancellor of Mediolaurentia

Archchancellor of the Realm
State arms of Mediolaurentia
Banner of arms of Mediolaurentia
Incumbent Chris Ramsay since 28 July 2022
Royal Government of Mediolaurentia
Style	No official style The Most Noble (current) Archchancellor (informal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Type	Grand Officer of the Realm
Status	Head of government
Member of	Consistorium (observing) Council of the Realm
Reports to	The Crown Senate
Residence	No offical residence
Nominator	The Crown
Appointer	Senate
Term length	1 year, renewable forasmuch the holder is favoured by the Senate and the Crown.
Constituting instrument	Constitution on the Circumstances of Unification and Formation of the High Kingdom of Mediolaurentia
Formation	27 July 2022 (2022-07-27)
First holder	(Current)
Unofficial names	Archchancellor of Mediolaurentia

The archchancellor of Mediolaurentia, officially Archchancellor of the Realm, is the highest government office and head of government of the High Kingdom of Mediolaurentia. It is the archchancellor's duty as Chair of the Council of the Realm to dictate meetings and delegate the responsibilities of the central government as well as to nominate certain positions, as secretary to the Consistorium it is their job to advise and observe the same, and as the representative of unity between the governments of the constituent countries it is their responsibility to uphold communication between the same.

The archchancellor is responsible to the Senate and Sovereign, needing the approval of both to remain in office. Though in there being no terms or term limits, the archchancellor requires the approval of every senate that is ever inaugurated within 14 days of inauguration. The senate generally sits for one year, meaning when a new senate convenes, they must reaffirm confidence in the archchancellor.

Creation

The office of the archchancellor is constituted in §24 of the constitution stating:

There shall be an Archchancellor of the Realm who shall be the Chair of the Council of the Realm and to whom the administration and supervision of the exercising of executive power through the same shall be concerned. (a) The Archchancellor represents co-operation between the government and those of the constituent countries. (b) The Archchancellor may not already be a head of government for a constituent country. (c) In vacancy of the offices of § 27 exclusive of the Archchancellery, it falls upon the Archchancellor to act thereof plenipotentiary.

Terminology

"Archchancellor" is a name that bears resemblance with "Archduke" and "Archbishop". It combines the same prefix, "arch-" from Latin archi meaning "power" or "authority". Thus, "arch-" is understood to denote a higher version of an office. The prefix of "arch-" to combine with the early government secretariat popularised by feudal Europe, the chancellor, forms the much rarer "archchancellor" with which the naming denotation (literally: high chancellor) can be compared to those of Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In this form, the term has seen rare implementations throughout early medieval and later European history. Retroactively, it's attributed to the earlier Carolingian France but arguably officiated by Emperor Lothair I later in 864 AD. It (German: Erzkanzler) was the name of the highest government offices of the Holy Roman Empire, usually with regional connotations over i.e. the historical regions of Italy and Germany until its dissolution in 1806. Emperor Napoleon also had two of his own.

As Atiera already had a chancellor, selecting this to be the name of the office of head of government would not suffice. "Archchancellor" was then elected and reinforced considering the rarity of the term.

Appointment

The archchancellor is not elected, nor requires the confidence of a legislator in the same sense as is typical. The archchancellor enters into office at the behest of the monarch in consultation with advisors and co-constituent monarchs of the Consistorium. In a democratic sense, the archchancellor receives no longer than two weeks to convince the Senate that he is of eligible and competent character, and requires within that timeframe a majority vote approval. If the senate rejects him he must resign and the sovereign must bring a new candidate. A rejected archchancellor may not be appointed and brought to the senate's attention twice consecutively.

Constitution §25 states more precisely:

The Archchancellor is appointed by the Crown with advice from the Consistorium. Within a fortnight of an appointment, the Archchancellor requires a majority vote of approval by the Senate in order to remain in office. (a) If the Senate has not addressed the appointment, the appointment shall be invalidated and the process must be repeated. (b) If a Senate majority is not reached, the appointment shall be invalidated immediately, and a new appointment must be made. The invalided appointment may not be carried out another time consecutively. (c) The Crown shall not interfere with the due Senatorial assessment of the appointment. (d) When a new Senate has been elected, from the moment of its opening, the same as the above shall apply. (e) If the Senate is suspended or otherwise not inaugurated, clause A shall be invalid until clause D can be activated.

List of officeholders

No.	Portrait (or coat of arms)	Name	Term of office			Political party		Monarch	Senate term (Date affirmed)
1		The Most Noble Count Chris Ramsay	28 July 2022	Incumbent	7002839000000000000♠2 years, 108 days	Atieran Moderate Coalition		Alexander I Carson I	I (15 July 2022)
			The inaugural archchancellor sat on and partly initiated the Unification Commission in which capacity he wrote or discussed large parts of the constitution. Chris was appointed on the 28 March and affirmed by the Senate on the day of its expiration.