following constitutional changes made in 1999, the priory of england and the islands was established (including the commandery of ards in northern ireland) alongside the existing priories of wales, scotland, canada, australia (including the commandery of western australia), new zealand, south africa, and, since 1996, the united states, each of which is governed by a prior and a priory chapter. commanderies, governed by a knight or dame commander and a commandery chapter, may exist within or wholly or partly without the territory of a priory, known as dependent or independent commanderies, respectively. any country without a priory or commandery of its own is assumed into the "home priory" of england and the islands, many of these being smaller commonwealth of nations states in which the order has only a minor presence.