and members of his family also act as colonels-in-chief of various regiments in the military, these posts are only ceremonial in nature, reflecting the Crown's relationship with the military through participation in military ceremonies both at home and abroad. The country's only currently ranked Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal and Marshal of the Royal New Zealand Air Force is Charles III. The ranks were also formerly held by Prince Philip, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II. Various regiments have also received a royal prefix, such as the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers, the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, and the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment. The Crown and Māori Māori interaction with the Crown dates back to 1832, when King William IV of the United Kingdom appointed James Busby as British resident, to address concerns on the part of Māori in the Bay of Islands over expanding European settlements in that area. On 28 October 1835, Busby oversaw a (forum) held at Waitangi, at which a flag was selected for New Zealand and a declaration of independence written by Busby was signed by 36 Māori chiefs; both were acknowledged the following year by the King in a letter from Lord Glenelg. As a result, the declaration's ratification by the British Parliament in 1836, officials in the Colonial Office determined in 1839 that a treaty of cessation would need to be signed with Māori for the British Crown to acquire sovereignty over New Zealand. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs, and is considered the founding document of the nation. The Treaty identifies the Crown's right to , or "governorship", leading one Māori academic to argue that , or His Majesty's Government in New Zealand, is party to the treaty. Since the treaty's implementation, a number of petitions have been made by Māori directly to the sovereign in London, whom they felt they had a special relationship, the first coming from northern chiefs in 1852. This and all subsequent appeals were directed back to the sovereign's New Zealand ministers for advice on how to proceed. The results were not always favourable to Māori, who have communicated their discontent to the monarch or other royals; in response to a refusal by the Executive Council in 1981 to allow Mana Motuhake direct access to the Queen, Māori activist