High Chancellor

Flavia in the role of High Chancellor. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The High Chancellor of All Gallifrey (AUDIO: Pandora) was the third most powerful individual on the High Council of Time Lords after the President and Vice President. (TV: The Invasion of Time, PROSE: The Ancestor Cell, AUDIO: Lies)

They were more commonly known as the High Chancellor, the Lord Chancellor or simply the Chancellor.

Duties and powers

The Chancellor was responsible for maintaining the separation of powers and resolving issues of remit through the proper demarcation of jurisdiction. An example of this would be determining whether or not a matter should be handled by the Chancellery Guard, the CIA or the Inquisition. (AUDIO: Pandora) This power was carried over to the Prime Minister. (AUDIO: Havoc)

The Chancellor was secretly entrusted with holding the Great Key of Rassilon in order to keep the President from having absolute power through ownership of the Key, Sash and Rod. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Among the Chancellor's regular duties was jurisdiction over the Chancellery Guard and the Castellan. (AUDIO: Pandora)

In the absence of a President, the Chancellor could automatically take the office. (AUDIO: Mindbomb)

Appointment

The Chancellor was ordinarily appointed by the President. (AUDIO: Pandora) However, in the absence of the Fourth Doctor, the High Council ratified Cardinal Borusa's appointment as Chancellor. As the High Council required the President to ratify such appointments, the legality of this was questioned. (TV: The Invasion of Time) In another occurrence, President Romana allowed the Council to appoint Valyes as Acting Chancellor following Braxiatel's flight. (AUDIO: Insurgency)

History

When Rassilon abdicated the Presidency, the Time Lord government was reorganised to be more stable, and the position of Chancellor was created as second-in-command to the President. The secrets of the Great Key to the Eye of Harmony were entrusted to the first Chancellor, Azmeal; to prevent any one Time Lord from controlling both Gallifrey's government and the Eye, it was decreed that no Chancellor could ascend to the rank of President, nor any other Chancellor after him.

Following the Morbius crisis, the Chancellor was required to belong to the same Chapter as the President. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey)

Goth served as Chancellor under the 406th President. (TV: The Deadly Assassin) Following his death, Cardinal Borusa assumed his office and had his position ratified by the High Council in the absence of a President. The Fourth Doctor questioned the legality of his appointment. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

Flavia combined the offices of Chancellor and President when she became President. (AUDIO: Lies) This was a tradition that President Romana did not wish to break by giving the chancellorship to Braxiatel, believing that it could be seen as centralising power. Braxiatel, however, thought the opposite. (AUDIO: Pandora)

By the time of the run-up to the War in Heaven, there were four different Chancellors: the Chancellor of Time Past, the Chancellor of Time Present, the Chancellor of Time Future, and the Chancellor of Time Parallel. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)

Shortly after his resurrection, Rassilon dissolved the High Chancellor title, with its then incumbent Livia instead becoming Prime Minister. (AUDIO: Havoc) However, there was a Chancellor by the end of the war. (TV: The End of Time)

Known Chancellors

Known holders of this office included Azmeal, (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey) Slann, (PROSE: Birth of a Renegade) a male chancellor, (TV: The Three Doctors) Delox, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) Goth, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) Borusa, (TV: The Invasion of Time) Thalia, (TV: Arc of Infinity) Flavia, (TV: The Five Doctors) Theora, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) Braxiatel, (AUDIO: Pandora) Valyes, (AUDIO: Insurgency, Fractures) Padrac, (AUDIO: Stop the Clock) Jerasta, Volstrom, (AUDIO: Songs of Love) the Chancellor, (TV: The End of Time) and, on an alternate Gallifrey, Narvin. (AUDIO: Forever)