Buckingham Palace Conference - Later Interventions By George V On Ireland

Later Interventions By George V On Ireland

King George himself intervened on a number of subsequent occasions on Ireland. In 1920 he made clear his opposition to the behaviour of the Black and Tans paramilitary force being used by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence, while unsuccessfully intervening to try to save the life of hunger striker Terence MacSwiney. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 he made a passionate appeal for reconciliation in Ireland at the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1921 which led directly to a truce between the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, paving the way for the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

In 1932 he defused a row between the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State Éamon de Valera and the Governor-General of the Irish Free State James McNeill by getting de Valera to withdraw a request for McNeill's dismissal, and then getting the McNeill to take early retirement.