Lieutenancy areas (), officially counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are the separate areas of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

that are appointed to a

lord-lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility o ...

– a representative of the

British monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British con ...

. In many cases they have similar demarcation and naming to, but are not necessarily coterminate with, the

counties of the United Kingdom The counties of the United Kingdom are subnational divisions of the United Kingdom, used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. The older term, ''shire'' is historically equivalent to county. By the Middle Ages ...

Origin

In England, lieutenancy areas are colloquially known as the ceremonial counties, although this phrase does not appear in any legislation referring to them. The

lieutenancy areas of Scotland The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the British monarch, monarch's representatives, in Scotland. The lord-lieutenants' titles chosen by the British monarch, monarch and his legal advisers are ...

are

subdivisions of Scotland For Local government in Scotland, local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" (), which are all governed by unitary authority, single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the opti ...

that are more or less based on the

counties of Scotland The counties or shires of Scotland () were historic subdivisions of Scotland. The shires were originally established in the Middle Ages for judicial purposes, being territories over which a Sheriff principal, sheriff had jurisdiction. They wer ...

, making use of the major cities as separate entities. In Wales, the lieutenancy areas are known as the

preserved counties of Wales Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * Preservation (magazine), ''Preservation'' (magazin ...

and are based on those used for lieutenancy and local government between 1974 and 1996. The lieutenancy areas of Northern Ireland correspond to the six counties and two former county boroughs.

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City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

References

{{UK subdivisions Local government in the United Kingdom Types of subdivision in the United Kingdom

Origin

Map

See also

References