Secretary of State
Following the decision to abolish Northern Ireland's devolved system of government and institute direct rule from London, all Northern Irish governmental posts, including that of Governor and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, were abolished. Those two posts were in effect combined to create the office of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. As the Queen's representative, the Secretary of State resides in Hillsborough Castle – as do junior ministers, though members of the Royal Family, when visiting Northern Ireland, stay there also.
Queen Elizabeth and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh stayed in Hillsborough Castle during their visit to Northern Ireland as part of the Golden Jubilee tour of the United Kingdom in 2002.
Read more about this topic: Hillsborough Castle
Famous quotes related to secretary of state:
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)