King's Birthday: What's Open, What's Closed And How It's Decided Who Gets Honours
Explainer – King Charles' birthday is commemorated with a public holiday on Monday – what's open, how do those royal honours get chosen and should we still celebrate it, anyway? Nik Dirga, Digital Explainer Editor
Explainer – King Charles' birthday is commemorated with a public holiday on Monday – what's open, how do those royal honours get chosen and should we still celebrate it, anyway?
Here's everything you need to know about the holiday.
What's open on Monday? Do I have to work?
It is a public holiday, but some people may still have to work depending on their employer.
Employees are paid time-and-a-half and entitled to a paid day off if a public holiday falls on a normal working day for them.
However, if you are a contractor or working for yourself, you don't get those benefits.
You can read more about public holiday rules for employers here.
Trading restrictions don't apply on Monday as they do for Easter holidays, the morning of Anzac Day or Christmas.
Shops, restaurants and cafes can be open as usual but it pays to check opening hours beforehand.
I'm gonna want a latte, do I have to pay a surcharge?
Because businesses have to pay employees more on a public holiday, it raises their costs. So some businesses choose to add a surcharge to their prices on holidays.
The typical surcharge is 15 percent.
However, businesses must be clear about announcing those charges to customers via signage, verbally or other methods.
Customers can also complain to the Commerce Commission if they feel misled or a charge was excessive.
King's Birthday is also about celebrating New Zealanders' achievements
Dozens of New Zealanders will be given royal honours which will be announced on Monday for excellence in their fields.
It's the second time each year honours are given out – they're also announced on New Year's Eve.
Cool, can I get an honour? Who decides who gets them?
Literally anyone can nominate someone living who they think deserves a Royal Honour. (Unless you try to nominate yourself, which is not allowed and also kind of weird.)
The Honours Unit at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet processes between 800 to 1000 nominations a year, Blair Teesdale-Moore, senior communications advisor with the department, said.
'The unit prepares a draft citation for each one based on the information in the nomination and letters of support,' she said.
The Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee then considers every nomination individually in a series of confidential meetings over several weeks.
'As chair of the APH committee and the King's primary advisor on honours matters, the prime minister advises the King on the final honours lists,' Teesdale-Moore said.
'By long-standing constitutional convention the King of New Zealand acts on the advice of the prime minister – this includes the formal approval of New Zealand Royal honours.'
Once the draft list is set, it is then given informal approval by the governor-general, run by potential recipients first – 'a small number decline,' Teesdale-Moore said – and then it's off to the King, who is the head of our honours system.
Hang on, the King was born in November. Why are we celebrating in June?
King Charles III turns 77 on 14 November. So why are we wishing him a happy birthday now?
Blame the weather. The tradition of celebrating the monarch's birthday in the northern summer dates back hundreds of years, and is tied in with the Trooping the Colour ceremonial event held every June in London.
The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is believed to have been first performed during the reign of King Charles II from 1660 to 1685, the British Army says.
In 1748, during the reign of King George II, the sovereign's birthday first became a celebrated holiday. Trooping the Colour became tied in to celebrate the monarch, no matter when their actual birthday was.
Ever since then, the king or queen has basically had two birthdays – the real one, and the big old fancy military parade one.
Trooping the Colour will be held in the UK on 14 June this year.
Is the King's Birthday really something NZ should be marking in 2025?
That's a matter of opinion and it all depends on who you ask.
As part of the Commonwealth, King Charles is New Zealand's head of state. Of course, there have been calls to change that, which ramped up after the death of Queen Elizabeth II following her 70-year reign in 2022.
Monarchy New Zealand organisation did not respond to requests for comment from RNZ by deadline, but on its website calls the monarchy 'something all Kiwis can be proud of'.
'It's a vital component of our government, a guarantee of our democracy, and a sign of our maturity and independence as a nation.
'The King is a completely apolitical head of state (who) represents all New Zealanders regardless of their political views. This cannot happen in a republic.'
However, there are also calls to abandon the holiday celebrating a monarch on the other side of the world.
Savage, the chair of the New Zealand Republic organisation, called King's Birthday an 'empty public holiday that celebrates nothing in particular. It is no one's birthday and even the Brits don't celebrate it as a public holiday'.
'It has already been surpassed by Matariki as a proper, meaningful public holiday. New Zealand Republic was one of the first groups to start campaigning for Matariki and we are campaigning to replace King's Birthday with a spring time public holiday in September.'
NZ Republic suggests a replacement public holiday could be Citizenship Day, when New Zealand citizenship was officially established on 6 September 1948 by the passing of the New Zealand Citizenship Act, or Suffrage Day on 19 September, marking the day in 1893 that NZ signed into law allowing women to vote.
But for now, your public holiday off is thanks to the King.
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