Lord High Chancellor of Lordaeron

The Lord High Chancellor is the senior and most important functionary of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. The title was created following the fall of Icecrown Citadel and the death of the Lich King; prior to the Third War and its subsequent tumult, the office and its responsibilities were non-extant. The office is currently held by Asuryan Caernough.

Responsibilities and Powers
A title of royal prerogative, the Chancellor is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Queen. As the senior official of the Royal Chancery, the Chancellor publishes and ensures the enforcement and promulgation of all royal edicts and decrees. The Chancery is the Kingdom's main office of administration, further producing charters and writs, and maintaining the patent roll, a record of all letters-patent issued by the monarch and composing an authoritative listing of the Kingdom's peerage.

The Chancellor is also entrusted as keeper of the Great Seal of the Realm and authorized to bear it about his person. Possession of the Great Seal allows the Chancellor to issue edicts in the Monarch's name, though in practice these often involve little more than matters of minutiae and administrative detail.

Additional Roles
Though in theory the office of Lord High Chancellor holds authority only over the Chancery and its sub-offices, the reality of Lordaeron's restoration has afforded far more practical power to the office. Under the auspices of its inaugural holder, Asuryan Caernough, the offices of the Chancery have expanded to encompass the Royal Exchequer. The Kingdom's burgeoning bureaucracies, including the apparatuses of taxation, operate as departments of the Chancery. Excepting matters of monumental importance which dictate the presence of the sovereign, the Chancellor also serves as the Kingdom's de facto foreign minister, responsible for negotiations with foreign polities and the drafting of all treaties and accords.

This collection of powers, both titular and those exercised by commission, make the Lord High Chancellor the virtual executor of Lordaeron's government, subject only to the orders of the monarch. A vast majority of the Kingdom's day-to-day operations are overseen and directed by the Chancellor. Though codified in no law or edict, this clout makes the Chancellor the most likely candidate to assume a position of Regency or Protectorship in the event of the Monarch's incapacity with no heir at an age of majority.

Despite the potency of the office, much of its clout is owed to the personal influence and unquestioned loyalty of Lord Caernough; it stands likely that upon his death and replacement by one less trusted by the Queen the office will either be abolished entirely or portioned into several less influential posts.