Governor-General of The Irish Free State

Governor-General Of The Irish Free State

The Governor-General (Irish: Seanascal) was the official representative of the King of the United Kingdom in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937. By convention, the office of Governor-General was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it was controversial, as many nationalists saw it as offensive to republican principles and a symbol of continued Irish subservience to the United Kingdom. For this reason the office had its role increasingly diminished until it was abolished entirely in 1937, retroactively applied to 1936.

The first two Governors-General lived in an official residence, the Viceregal Lodge, now known as Áras an Uachtaráin (and now the official residence of the President of Ireland). The last Governor-General resided in a specially hired private residence in Booterstown, County Dublin.

The Governor-General was officially referred to as His Excellency. However, unlike all the other Governors-General within the British Empire in the 1920s and 1930s, none of the Governors-General of the Irish Free State were ever sworn in as members of the Imperial Privy Council.

Read more about Governor-General Of The Irish Free State:  Governors-General of The Irish Free State (1922–1936), Selection, Role

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