Society’s new Charter to be placed on display at London headquarters
The President, the immediate past president, Gill Hawksworth, and
the Secretary and Registrar, Ann Lewis, with the new Charter in front
of a portrait of the Society’s first President, William Allen |
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society intends to place its new Supplemental Royal Charter on display on the first floor of its headquarters building in the new year, once building work on that floor has been completed.
The Society’s new Royal Charter was sealed and brought into force
on 7 December. This was an earlier date than had been expected and was
done to allow the Council to agree revised
election regulations for the
new Council with the new Charter already in force (PJ, 11 December, p863).
The Society’s President, Nicholas Wood, said: “I have already
said how delighted I am that Her Majesty has seen fit to approve the
grant of our new Charter. It was therefore with special pleasure that
I was able to take delivery of the finished article and show it to the
Society’s Council.”
New Charters are rare and the Society was last granted a new Supplemental
Charter in 1953. The Royal Charter gives the Society autonomy and flexibility.
It means that, unlike bodies regulating other health professions, the
Society is not restricted to the functions set down in its legislation.
Sealing the Charter
After a charter is approved by Her Majesty in Council (ie, by
the Privy Council), the vellum document is prepared by special
printing.
An order is then made directing the preparation of the warrant
for the passing of the charter under the Great Seal. Upon receipt
of this the Queen signs the warrant itself and the charter
is then sealed in the Crown Office.
The sealing process involves heating the two halves of the
silver seal mould in an oven for half a day until it is hot
enough to melt
the granules from which the seal is made. The two halves of the
seal are then fused around the ribbon attached to the bottom
of the charter.
A charter cannot be brought into force until this has been done. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal