Dukedoms of the British Isles by reign Churchill, 1st Earl of Marlborough, the excellent English general of Queen Anne's reign, won many a victory over the French King Louis XIV. He was rewarded with a dukedom, which by a special Act of Parliament passed to his daughters and their descendants when he died without surviving male issue. Created for politician John Manners, 9th Earl of Rutland. He was noted for being one of the first people in England to obtain a divorce, done by special act of Parliament. Like the Dukedom of Cornwall in England, Rothesay is automatically held by the eldest son of the Scottish monarch;
Constitution of Australia the Commonwealth in the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 (retroactive to 1939), and the Australia Act 1986, which was passed in equivalent forms by the United Kingdom Parliament and the Australian Federal Parliament (using legislative powers conferred by enabling acts passed by the Parliaments of every Australian state). The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act is often regarded as the point at which Australia became, "de jure", an independent nation, while the Australia Act severed the last remaining constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom. Even though the same person, Queen Elizabeth II, is the monarch of both countries,