The Governor General of Canada (French:Gouverneur(e) général(e) du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of theCanadian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The person of the sovereign is shared equally both with the 15 other Commonwealth realms and the 10 provinces of Canada, but resides predominantly in her oldest realm, theUnited Kingdom. Because of this, the Queen, on the advice of her Canadian prime minister,[1] appoints a governor general to carry out most of her constitutional andceremonial duties. The commission is for an unfixed period of time—known as serving at Her Majesty's pleasure—though five years is the normal convention. Beginning in 1959, it has also been traditional to rotate betweenanglophone and francophone incumbents—although many recent governors general have been bilingual. Once in office, the governor general maintains direct contact with the Queen, wherever she may be at the time.[2] Governor General of Canada