Monarchy in the Irish Free State

The King was the head of state of the 1922-1937 Irish Free State. Under the Free State constitution, the state was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The King exercised a number of important duties, including appointing the Executive Council (cabinet), dissolving the legislature and promulgating laws. Nonetheless, by convention the King's role was largely ceremonial. The King's duties were exercise on his behalf by his official representative, the Governor-General. Most of the King's functions were taken from him in the final days of the Irish Free State, under a constitutional amendment adopted in 1936.

Major constitutional changes

Change of title in 1927

Prior to 1927 the British monarch reigned over the entire Commonwealth, including the Irish Free State, as 'King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 replaced the concept of a single crown ruling the Commonwealth with multiple crowns, so that each dominion became a separate kingdom. From this time onwards, therefore, the King wore not one crown but several, and so henceforth he reigned in Australia as 'King of Australia', in Canada as 'King of Canada', etc. Nonethless, because all of the dominions shared, as monarch, a single individual, they were united under a personal union.

Related Topics:
Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 - Kingdom - Australia - King of Australia - Canada - King of Canada - Personal union

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After 1927 the King reigned over the Irish Free State as 'King of Ireland'. This change had important implications. Before the change of title the British government had the right both to designate the Governor-General and to secretly advise both the King and his Governor-General in the exercise of their functions in the Irish Free State. For example, after his appointment Governor-General Tim Healy was instructed by the British government to withhold assent from any bill that sought to abolish the Oath of Allegiance.

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After the Act the Free State government assumed the right to chose the Governor-General and both the 'King of Ireland', and the Governor-General, only accepted advice from the government of the Free State. The Free State government also assumed full responsibility for its foreign affairs, as the King began, for the first time, to concluded treaties on behalf of the state and to accept the credentials of international ambassadors to the Irish state. The King also granted the Irish Free State its own Great Seal, at a time when the rest of the Commonwealth continued to use Great Britain's Great Seal of the Realm. The first occasion on which King formally concluded a treaty on the Free State's behalf was in 1931, when he George V signed a treaty presented to him by the Free State's Minister for External Affairs, Patrick McGilligan, in the absence of a British minister.

Related Topics:
Great Seal - Great Seal of the Realm - 1931 - Minister for External Affairs - Patrick McGilligan

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Constitutional changes of 1936

In 1936 the Fianna Fáil government of Eamon de Valera carried out a major revision of the constitution aimed at all but eliminating the role of the King in the Irish state. After abolishing the Oath of Allegiance the Oireachtas passed the Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act. This removed all explicit reference to the King from the constitution, abolished the office of Governor-General, and shared all of the King's former functions amongst various other organs of government.

Related Topics:
Fianna Fáil - Eamon de Valera - Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act

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However, without mentioning him by name, the amendment also introduced a provision permitting the government to "avail of" the King as a "constitutional organ" for the "appointment of diplomatic and consular agents and the conclusion of international agreements". Thus, henceforth, the King was still the head of state but his role was restricted to diplomatic and foreign affairs, a standard head of state role,

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The King retained no other constitutional role internally in the life of the Irish state and was relegated in Bunreacht na hÉireann to being an unnamed "organ" used by the state should it choose in statute law to do so. It continued that organ role in the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act, which gave the King's diplomatic role to the President of Ireland.

Related Topics:
Bunreacht na hÉireann - Statute law - Republic of Ireland Act - President of Ireland

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