King of Ireland

The designation King of Ireland has been used during three periods of Irish history.

History

Kingdom of Ireland (1542-1801)

The title "King of Ireland" was created by an act of the Irish Parliament in 1541, to replace the Lordship of Ireland which had existed since 1171 with the Kingdom of Ireland. The Crown of Ireland Act established a personal union between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was king of England was to be king of Ireland as well, and so its first holder was King Henry VIII of England.

Related Topics:
Irish Parliament - 1541 - Lordship of Ireland - 1171 - Kingdom of Ireland - Crown of Ireland Act - Personal union - King Henry VIII - England

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For a brief period in the seventeenth century, from the impeachment and execution of Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration of the monarch in England in 1660, there was no 'King of Ireland' in effect — only in name. Charles II had been crowned King of Scotland, England and Ireland at Scone, Scotland, in 1651; but England had become a republic when it executed his father, and the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, quickly marched north, and then across the Irish sea, to put an end to any plans to restore the new king to the English throne by temporarily — albeit illegally — uniting England, Scotland and Ireland under one government. After Cromwell's death in 1658, however, his son, Richard, was the only person to emerge as a leader of this pan-British Isles republic, and he was not sufficiently competent to maintain any of it. Parliament at London voted to restore the monarch, an Charles II returned from exile in France, as King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Related Topics:
Charles I - 1649 - Restoration of the monarch in England - 1660 - Charles II - 1651 - Oliver Cromwell - Richard

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When the first Act of Union took effect in 1707, merging England and Scotland into the semi-federal Kingdom of Great Britain, the person union between the Irish and English crowns became a personal union between Irish and British crowns. The Kingdom of Ireland was then merged to Great Britain on 1 January 1801 when the second Act of Union took effecting, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (since 1922, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Related Topics:
1707 - Kingdom of Great Britain - Second Act of Union - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Irish Free State (1927-1936)

Main article: Monarchy in the Irish Free State

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Twenty-six of Ireland's thirty-two counties left the United Kingdom in 1922 (the six northeastern counties of Ireland opted to remain British), as the Irish Free State (renamed Éire in 1937), a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. As a dominion, the Free State was a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch as its head of state. However, until 1927, King George V was still formally styled "King of the United Kingdom". It was five years before the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 revived the title "King of Ireland" as a separate position to the British crown. As before 1801, the two crowns existed in a personal union.

Related Topics:
Irish Free State - Éire - Constitutional monarchy - Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927

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In conjunction with the change, the Free State achieved greater autonomy within the British Empire. For example, the British cabinet could no longer advise the King on matters pertinent to the Irish Free State but the king, through his governor general (after 1937, through the President of Ireland) took the advice of his Irish prime ministers. The Free State was also granted its own Great Seal and began to sign treaties in its own right, instead of through Britain.

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That last item — the right of British dominions to sign treaties on their own behalf without the imperial oversight of London — dates to the First World War and the insistence of the then-Dominion of Canada that she be represented at the Versailles Peace Talks and sign the treaty under her own name, though within the context of the British Empire. Canada had already managed to reserve this right to herself in an earlier treaty negotiation with the United States. Canadian insistence on the right to sign the Treaty of Versailles independently effectively secured this right to all British dominions, including post-bellum dominions like the Irish Free State.

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1936-1949

Main article: Irish head of state from 1936-1949

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From 1936 to 1949 the role of the King of Ireland in the Irish state was greatly reduced and ambiguous. An amendment to the Free State constitution in 1936 all but eliminated all of the King's official duties but one. Under the External Relations Act of the same year he continued to represent the Free State in international affairs. This purely external role continued when the new Constitution of Ireland was introduced in 1937.

Related Topics:
1936 - 1949 - Free State constitution - External Relations Act - Constitution of Ireland - 1937

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The position of King of Ireland ceased to be with the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act, which came into force in April 1949. This act, as the name suggested, declared the state to be a republic. The Crown of Ireland Act was eventually repealed in the Republic of Ireland by the Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962.

Related Topics:
Republic of Ireland Act - Republic

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The monarchy continues in Northern Ireland, of course, which remains a province of United Kingdom. The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1952, Elizabeth II, numbers an assortment of pre-Norman High Kings of Ireland among her ancestors, through her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Related Topics:
Northern Ireland - Elizabeth II - Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

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