After a period of discord in East and West New Jersey and repeated attempts by the proprietors of both provinces to surrender their governance rights, Queen Anne established New Jersey as a royal colony in 1702. The following year she appointed her cousin Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury—already governor of New York—as New Jersey’s first royal governor. From 1703 to 1736, New Jersey and New York shared their royal governors.

In their commissions, royal governors were granted considerable power: to convene and prorogue (dismiss) the colonial legislatures and veto their laws, to appoint non-elected officials, to grant pardons, etc. In practice, executive authority even during the period of the royal governors was largely limited and influenced by local politics and the fact that the Assembly controlled the colony’s purse strings.

In all, New Jersey had thirteen governors appointed by the crown of Great Britain, as follows:

Source: Paul A. Stellhorn and Michael J. Birkner, eds., The Governors of New Jersey, 1664-1974: Biographical Essays (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1982), 72-6.