The Ministry serves as the direct executor of the will of the Crown. While the Crown is free, by both law and custom, to issue orders directly to subordinate units and commands (such is typical when the Crown sits with the JCCG) the Ministry serves as the default chain of command. The Minister of Defense reports directly to the Crown and thence gives orders either directly to the particular service chief or to the particular Minister of that service. Notable is that the heads of the military service report directly to the Minister of Defense, there are no intermediary civilian officials. Thus by order of rank the Minister is the second highest followed by the head of a given service. Also of note is that the Ministry of Defense does not exercise any authority over the Royal Armed Forces in