Does that mean that the king was the Irish head of state during the war?
.... I think not
TTN, as they had their own pres, the aforementioned Mr DeValera.
So I'm unsure (and will try and find out definitively) what part the King would have to play as Head of Commonwealth if not of State. After all, Auntie Betty is Head of a Commonwealth which includes some countries (firstly India) with their own Pres .....
More research needed!
[edited to add the further research!]
The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 of the Republic of Ireland contains the following:
3.—(1) It is hereby declared and enacted that, so long as Saorstát Eireann is associated with the following nations, that is to say, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and South Africa, and so long as the king recognised by those nations as the symbol of their co-operation continues to act on behalf of each of those nations (on the advice of the several Governments thereof) for the purposes of the appointment of diplomatic and consular representatives and the conclusion of international agreements, the king so recognised may, and is hereby authorised to, act on behalf of Saorstát Eireann for the like purposes as and when advised by the Executive Council so to do.
This Act was not repealed (and so was
de jure still valid) until it was specifically so in the first section of the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948.
1.—The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936 (No. 58 of 1936), is hereby repealed.
So under the terms of the 1936 Act
he was still King throughout the War . Which makes the Irish actions even more reprehensible and quite possibly illegal!
Both Acts referenced from the Irish Attorney General's
Irish Statute Book Website!
Perhaps I
shouldn't get out more!
