Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
Coat of arms of Jersey
Flag of the lieutenant governor of Jersey
Incumbent Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd since 8 October 2022
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Government House
Appointer	The Monarch
Term length	Five years[1]
Formation	1502
First holder	Sir Hugh Vaughan (as Governor of Jersey)
Website	www.governmenthouse.gov.je

The lieutenant governor of Jersey (Jèrriais: Gouvèrneux d'Jèrri, "Governor of Jersey"), properly styled the lieutenant-governor of Jersey^[2] (French: Lieutenant-Gouverneur de Jersey), is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a dependency of the British Crown.

Presently, there is no governor of Jersey (French: Gouverneur de Jersey), the role having devolved its responsibilities onto the lieutenant governors and then been discontinued in 1854. The position of lieutenant governor is now itself largely ceremonial, with day-to-day responsibility over most functions of government overseen by the Chief Minister of Jersey and judicial and certain other official matters overseen by the Bailiff of Jersey.

The lieutenant governor serves as the Viceroy of the Monarch in Jersey, performing various ceremonial functions and liaising between the Governments of Jersey and the United Kingdom. The lieutenant governor also exercises certain executive functions relating broadly to citizenship, including involvement with passports, deportation, and nationality. Jersey passports are British passports issued on behalf of the lieutenant governor, in the exercise of the royal prerogative, through the Passport Office which the States fund and from which the States retain any revenue generated. Deportation from Jersey is formally ordered by the lieutenant governor. Certificates of naturalization as a British citizen are issued by the lieutenant governor.^[3]

Ex officio, the lieutenant governor is a member of the States of Jersey but may not vote and, by convention, speaks in the Chamber only on appointment and on departure from post.

The unusual position of the lieutenant governor is a product of the unusual situation created when the once-Viking dukes of Normandy, vassals of the kings of France, became kings of England and subsequently claimed the French throne itself. Despite the loss of Normandy and failure of the First and main Hundred Years' Wars, the situation caused the terms of the 1259 Treaty of Paris to be generally maintained and the Channel Islands were organized separately from the Kingdom of England and its successor states and held directly under the Crown.^[4]

From 933,^[5] the dukes of Normandy and then kings of England held the islands directly.^[4] Beginning with Prince John on 8 February 1198,^[6] they began to be delegated to a series of princes and royal favourites like Peter de Preaux as feudal lords of the isles (Latin: dominus insularum; French: seigneur des îles).^[4] Actual administrative control was separately placed with a warden of the isles (custos insularum; gardien des îles), at first typically a member of the king's household knights or the royal council.^[4] This post was given wide autonomy in command and judgment alongside 12 sworn coroners (coronatores juratos) charged to preserve and clarify the local traditions, obligations, and freedoms and some of its holders were greatly enriched by the provision of terra Normannorum, lands seized from previous owners obliged to swear fealty to the Capetian king of France to preserve their other holdings on the Continent.^[4] The wardens were initially appointed by the islands' lords but, particularly under the long and neglectful rule of Edward I's favourite Otto de Grandson, some were appointed directly by the king to ensure the islands' allegiance and protection during times of hostility with France.^[7] This became standard after the lordship became hereditary in the line of Henry Beauchamp and then ceased to be awarded upon the line's extinguishment. As early as 1201, the lords and wardens were both sometimes described as the bailiff of the islands (ballivus insularum; bailli des îles),^[8] but this gradually became a separate position held by a separate agent.

Following the capture of Mont Orgueil and Jersey's occupation by the French from 1461–1468 owing to the support of Pierre de Brézé, seneschal of Normandy, to the Lancastrian cause of his cousin Margaret of Anjou during the Wars of the Roses, greater attention was paid to the islands' organisation and defense. Upon its reconquest by Richard Harliston, he was named captain of the isles (capitaine des îles) or captain-in-chief (capitaine en chef).^[9] Shortly thereafter in 1473, the previous captains or subwardens (subcustos) at Jersey and Guernsey were replaced by separate captains or governors (gouverneur) overseeing the local garrisons.^[10] Jurisdictional friction with the islands' bailiffs culminated in legal disputes between the captain John Peyton and the bailiff Jean Hérault, who was attempting to usurp the title of "governor". A series of rulings by the Privy Council from 1616 to 1618 determined that Jersey's captain would be formally styled its governor but largely restricted to military matters, while the bailiff would exercise most civil and judicial responsibilities without his oversight; Guernsey's officials followed suit shortly thereafter.^[10][11]

After the Stuart Restoration, King Charles II—who had previously escaped to France via Jersey—rewarded the island with the power to levy customs duties. The post of governor of Jersey thereafter became a sinecure chiefly used for its incomes, with its responsibilities discharged after 1806 by lieutenant governors. Following the long and entirely absent "service" of William Beresford as governor, the post was left vacant. Since his death in 1856, the Crown has been formally and constitutionally represented in Jersey by lieutenant governors.^[12] The lieutenant governors have gradually lost various powers of their office. Jersey's custom duties—previously levied by an assembly consisting of the governor, bailiff, and jurats—has been controlled by the States of Jersey since 1921, removing most control over the island's finances by the lieutenant governor; the States of Jersey Law 2005 abolished the lieutenant governor's previous ability to veto resolutions of the States;^[13] and the recommendation of future lieutenant governors was announced in 2010^{[needs update]} to be the responsibility of a panel on Jersey rather than of the ministers of the United Kingdom.^[14][15]

Wardens of the Isles: 13th century Hasculf du Suligny 1206-1212 (Jersey) Philippe d'Aubigné 1207-1212 Guernsey) 1212–1214 (Jersey and Guernsey), 1214-1215 (Jersey, Guernsey and Sark) 1217-1221 (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark), 1232-1234 Philippe d'Aubigné - nephew 1219-1224, 1232 Geoffrey de Lucy 1224-1226 Hugues de Saint Philibert 1226 Richard de Gray 1226-1227, 1229-1230, 1252-1254 William de St Jean 1227-1229, 1232 Henri de Trubleville 1230-1232, 1234-1239 Arnaud de St Amand and others 1232-1234 Nicholas de Meules 1234-1235 Gerard de Lambersard, Guillaume de Dampierre and Guillaume Blom 1235 Drouet de Barentin 1235-1239, 1241-1252, 1258 Guillaume de Bouelles 1240 - see Drouet de Barentin Guillaume de Barentin 1267-1268 Raoul de Broughton 1274 Arnaud Jean 1271 - 1275 Philippe Burnel 1276-1278 - see Guillaume de Barentin Guillaume de St Remi and Denis de Tilbury 1278 - see Guillaume de Barentin Sir William Grandison and Henri de Bouvillars 1294 Sir Henry de Cobham 1294 - 1297 Sir Nicholas de Cheney 1297 Henry, Prior of Wenlock 1299 14th century Jean de Newent 1304 Jean de Ditton 1306 Drew de Barentin 1309-1319 Thomas de Hamptonne 1313 Henri de Sully 1323 Gérard Derous 1323-1326 Jean de Clyvedon 1324-1325 Jean de Roches, Robert de Norton and Raoul Basset 1326 - 1331 Pierre Bernard de Pynsole and Laurens de Gaillard 1330-1331 Guillaume de Cheyny 1330-1331 Thomas Wake of Liddell 1331-1333 Guillaume de Montagu + Henry de Ferriers 1334 - 1337 Thomas de Ferriers 1337 – 1341, 1343 - 1347 Thomas de Hampton 1341-1342 Gautier de Weston 1336, 1338, 1343 Robert Wyvill and Thomas de Clifford 1348 Jean Mautravers 1349 - 1354 Guillaume Stury 1354 – 1357 Thomas de Holland 1357 Edmond de Cheyny 1359-1366 Gautier Hewet 1367-1373 Guillaume d'Asthorp and Jean Coke 1373 Edmond Rose 1373-1374 Hugh Calvilegh 1376 - 1393 Sir John Golafre 1393 - 1396 An 1826 book A Brief Description and Historical Notices of the Island of Jersey also shows Sire Peter Cornet appointed Warden in 1312 and John Cockerell, who is known to have been Bailiff as "Keeper and Bailiff" in 1357

15th Century Jean Perraunt and Thomas Pykworth 1405 Richard, Earl of Cambridge 1409-1412 Henry Muslow 1416 Sir John Bernard 1436-1442, 1444 John, Viscount Beaumont 1447 Ralph Boteler 1447 William de la Pole 1448 William Bertram 1448 Jean Nanfan 1452-1457 1460-1461

Governors:^[16]

Lieutenant Governors of Jersey have been:^{[16][dubious – discuss]}

The lieutenant governor has his own flag in Jersey, the Union Flag defaced with the bailiwick's coat of arms.

The official residence of the lieutenant governor is Government House in St Saviour, Jersey. It was depicted on the Jersey £50 note during the period 1989–2010.

• Bailiff of Jersey
• Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey

• Official website