Colonels-in-Chief in the NZDF
Stanley Bannerman made this Official Information request to New Zealand Defence Force
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for Stanley Bannerman to read a recent response and update the status.
From: Stanley Bannerman
Dear New Zealand Defence Force,
I would like to request information about the current honorary appointments across the New Zealand Defence Force.
Specifically, could you please provide:
• A list of the current Commodore-in-Chief, Colonel-in-Chief, and Air Commodore-in-Chief positions held within the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force, respectively.
• The name of the individual currently holding each appointment, and the date (or approximate date) their tenure began.
• Whether any requests, proposals, or correspondence have been made since the accession of King Charles III to update, renew, or confirm these honorary appointments, and the current status of any such requests.
I note that The Royal New Zealand Artillery has publicly announced His Majesty King Charles III as its Captain-General (https://www.rnzaa.org.nz/new-rnza-captai...) and the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers previously indicated that a request had been made for His Majesty to assume the role as their Colonel-in-Chief (https://www.facebook.com/CorpsOfRoyalNew...). However, I have not been able to locate confirmation of the later appointment, nor information about equivalent positions in other branches, corps, or units.
Yours faithfully,
Stanley Bannerman
From: Ministerial Services
New Zealand Defence Force
Good afternoon Stanley Bannerman
Your request below has been received and a decision on your request will be provided as soon as possible and no later than 7 November 2025. Responses to requests for information that are considered to be in the wider public interest will be published on the New Zealand Defence Force website (www.nzdf.mil.nz).
Regards
Corporate and Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force | Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa
www.nzdf.mil.nz
From: Stanley Bannerman [mailto:[FOI #32537 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 9 October 2025 6:09 p.m.
To: Ministerial Services <[NZDF request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Colonels-in-Chief in the NZDF
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization.
Do not follow guidance, click links, or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. If in any doubt, please forward the email to [email address] and then delete the email from your Inbox. Thank you
Dear New Zealand Defence Force,
I would like to request information about the current honorary appointments across the New Zealand Defence Force.
Specifically, could you please provide:
• A list of the current Commodore-in-Chief, Colonel-in-Chief, and Air Commodore-in-Chief positions held within the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force, respectively.
• The name of the individual currently holding each appointment, and the date (or approximate date) their tenure began.
• Whether any requests, proposals, or correspondence have been made since the accession of King Charles III to update, renew, or confirm these honorary appointments, and the current status of any such requests.
I note that The Royal New Zealand Artillery has publicly announced His Majesty King Charles III as its Captain-General (https://www.rnzaa.org.nz/new-rnza-captai...) and the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers previously indicated that a request had been made for His Majesty to assume the role as their Colonel-in-Chief (https://www.facebook.com/CorpsOfRoyalNew...). However, I have not been able to locate confirmation of the later appointment, nor information about equivalent positions in other branches, corps, or units.
Yours faithfully,
Stanley Bannerman
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #32537 email]
Is [NZDF request email] the wrong address for Official Information requests to New Zealand Defence Force? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The information contained in this Internet Email message is intended
for the addressee only and may contain privileged information, but not
necessarily the official views or opinions of the New Zealand Defence Force.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information in it.
If you have received this message in error, please Email or telephone
the sender immediately.
hide quoted sections
From: Ministerial Services
New Zealand Defence Force
Good morning Stanley Bannerman
Please find attached the response to your request for information.
Regards
Corporate and Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force
www.nzdf.mil.nz
The information contained in this Internet Email message is intended
for the addressee only and may contain privileged information, but not
necessarily the official views or opinions of the New Zealand Defence Force.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information in it.
If you have received this message in error, please Email or telephone
the sender immediately.
From: Stanley Bannerman
Dear Brigadier Motley,
Thank you for your reply.
I would like to clarify two matters arising from your response:
1. Captain-General, Royal New Zealand Artillery
I note that His Majesty The King is not included in your list as Captain-General of the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery. Could you please confirm whether this omission was inadvertent?
If not, could you clarify how this aligns with the communication between Colonel Ben Bagley and the Master Gunner of St James’s Park, as referenced here: https://www.rnzaa.org.nz/new-rnza-captai...
2. Commodore-in-Chief and Air Commodore-in-Chief Positions
Your response stated:
“The RNZN does not use the term Commodore-in-Chief and the RNZAF does not use the term Air Commodore-in-Chief. The national equivalent ceremonial role in the RNZN is Commander-in-Chief.”
I wish to clarify the meaning of this statement, as it is currently ambiguous. Do you mean to indicate that:
a. The RNZN and RNZAF currently have no individuals appointed to the positions of Commodore-in-Chief and Air Commodore-in-Chief; or
b. These positions are no longer in use and will not be used in future?
While I can find no evidence of any Commodore-in-Chief appointments within the NZDF (current or historical), I note that the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief, Royal New Zealand Air Force was held by His Majesty The King (then The Prince of Wales) until 2015 (see New Zealand Gazette, 6 August 2015, Issue 87, Notice 2015-vr4665: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2015-v...).
Furthermore, the late Queen Elizabeth II was listed as Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Territorial Air Force of New Zealand as recently as September 2022 (Army News, Issue 536, p. 2: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/D...). This NZDF document explicitly lists the position as a “current military appointment” at the time of Her late Majesty’s passing.
Given that the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief appears to have remained current as recently as 2015 and 2022, could you please advise:
When the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief was formally abolished (if applicable); and
What process was undertaken to discontinue or replace them.
Kind regards,
Stanley Bannerman
From: Ministerial Services
New Zealand Defence Force
Good afternoon Stanley Bannerman
Your request below has been received and a decision on your request will be provided as soon as possible and no later than 24 November 2025. Responses to requests for information that are considered to be in the wider public interest will be published on the New Zealand Defence Force website (www.nzdf.mil.nz).
Regards
Corporate and Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force | Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa
www.nzdf.mil.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Stanley Bannerman <[FOI #32537 email]>
Sent: Friday, 24 October 2025 12:05 pm
To: Ministerial Services <[NZDF request email]>
Subject: Re: UNCLASSIFIED: Response to your request for information OIA-2025-5563
Dear Brigadier Motley,
Thank you for your reply.
I would like to clarify two matters arising from your response:
1. Captain-General, Royal New Zealand Artillery
I note that His Majesty The King is not included in your list as Captain-General of the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery. Could you please confirm whether this omission was inadvertent?
If not, could you clarify how this aligns with the communication between Colonel Ben Bagley and the Master Gunner of St James’s Park, as referenced here: https://www.rnzaa.org.nz/new-rnza-captai...
2. Commodore-in-Chief and Air Commodore-in-Chief Positions
Your response stated:
“The RNZN does not use the term Commodore-in-Chief and the RNZAF does not use the term Air Commodore-in-Chief. The national equivalent ceremonial role in the RNZN is Commander-in-Chief.”
I wish to clarify the meaning of this statement, as it is currently ambiguous. Do you mean to indicate that:
a. The RNZN and RNZAF currently have no individuals appointed to the positions of Commodore-in-Chief and Air Commodore-in-Chief; or
b. These positions are no longer in use and will not be used in future?
While I can find no evidence of any Commodore-in-Chief appointments within the NZDF (current or historical), I note that the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief, Royal New Zealand Air Force was held by His Majesty The King (then The Prince of Wales) until 2015 (see New Zealand Gazette, 6 August 2015, Issue 87, Notice 2015-vr4665: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2015-v...).
Furthermore, the late Queen Elizabeth II was listed as Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Territorial Air Force of New Zealand as recently as September 2022 (Army News, Issue 536, p. 2: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/D...). This NZDF document explicitly lists the position as a “current military appointment” at the time of Her late Majesty’s passing.
Given that the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief appears to have remained current as recently as 2015 and 2022, could you please advise:
When the position of Air Commodore-in-Chief was formally abolished (if applicable); and What process was undertaken to discontinue or replace them.
Kind regards,
Stanley Bannerman
-----Original Message-----
Good morning Stanley Bannerman
Please find attached the response to your request for information.
Regards
Corporate and Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force
www.nzdf.mil.nz
The information contained in this Internet Email message is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged information, but not necessarily the official views or opinions of the New Zealand Defence Force.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information in it.
If you have received this message in error, please Email or telephone the sender immediately.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #32537 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The information contained in this Internet Email message is intended
for the addressee only and may contain privileged information, but not
necessarily the official views or opinions of the New Zealand Defence Force.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information in it.
If you have received this message in error, please Email or telephone
the sender immediately.
hide quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this request