Passed on April 12, 1927, the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 (17 Geo 5, c. 4) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that formed a significant landmark in the constitutional history of the UK and British Empire as a whole. The Act had two consequences. The first was to change the full name of the United Kingdom (UK) to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the former United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in recognition of the fact that the southern and western part of Ireland was governed by the Irish Free State which had seceded from the UK in 1922. April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... The British Empire was the worlds first global power and the largest empire in history. ... The Union Flag, in its modern form, was first adopted in 1801. ... The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

A second function was to modify the King's title, proclaiming that George V was not king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions but rather of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions. The full title of the Act was An Act to provide for the alteration of the Royal Style and Titles and of the Style of Parliament and for purposes incidental thereto. This change was likely a product of an agreement at the Imperial Conference of 1926 changing the relationship between Britain and the dominions as outlined in the Balfour Declaration of 1926. It was the Balfour Declaration in which it was agreed that the United Kingdom and the dominions were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". This article describes the British monarchy from the perspective of the United Kingdom. ... Imperial Conferences were gatherings of British Empire government leaders in London in 1887, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930 and 1937. ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A Dominion is a wholly self-governing or virtually self-governing state of the British Empire or British Commonwealth, particularly one which reached that stage of constitutional development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Canada and New Zealand. ... The Balfour Declaration of 1926 is a statement of the October-November 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London. ...

Separating the role of the Crown in Great Britain and in Ireland ended the right of the government in London to advise the King on actions to take regarding Ireland. The King of Ireland would take advice only from ministers in Dublin. The new Governor-General of the Irish Free State in Dublin also became a conduit between the King of Ireland and the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (the government), and did not receive confidential instructions and documents from the London government. The Governor-General (Irish: Seanascal) was the representative of the King in the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. ... Henry VIII, became King of Ireland in 1542. ... The Executive Council (Irish: Ard-Chomhairle) was the cabinet and de facto executive branch of government of the 1922-1937 Irish Free State. ...

Separating the roles of the Crown also meant that changes to the succession had to be agreed upon by all of the Commonwealth Realms, lest the personal union of the Crown be broken. Éamon de Valera combined Edward VIII's abdication on 11 December 1936 with a drastic limitation of royal power in Ireland. The delay in passing the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936 meant that Edward VIII was King of Ireland until 12 December 1936. A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. ... A personal union is a political union of two or more entities that, internationally, are considered separate states, but through established law, share the same head of state —hence also whatever political actions are vested in the head of state, but no (or very few) others. ... Eamon de Valera[1] (born Edward George de Valera, Irish name Éamonn de Bhailéara (October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Irelands struggle for independence from Britain in the early 20th Century, and the Republican anti-Treaty opposition in... Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor), later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), was the second British monarch of the House of Windsor. ... Abdication (from the Latin abdicatio, disowning, renouncing, from ab, from, and dicare, to declare, to proclaim as not belonging to one) is the act of renouncing and resigning from a formal office, especially from the supreme office of state. ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936 was an enactment of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) in 1936. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

However, most constitutional historians concentrate their focus on either the Statute of Westminster, 1931 or the Balfour Declaration of 1926 as being the crucial milestone in the evolution of the relationship between the Crown and what was becoming known as the British Commonwealth. ... The Balfour Declaration of 1926 is a statement of the October-November 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London. ... Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, most of which were once governed by the United Kingdom and are its former colonies. ...

• see also Royal Style and Titles Act

Of the many Royal Style and Titles Acts, the most constitutionally important was actually called the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act. ...

Parliamentary title

The 1927 Act did not change the title of the United Kingdom explicitly. Rather, it did this by changing the title of the British Parliament. Section 2 of the Act changed Parliament's title from the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Historians generally retrospectively date the coming into being of the modern United Kingdom to December 1922, when the Irish Free State seceded, even though the formal change of title did not occur for another five years. Despite the change of name, the Act provided that there would be no change in the numbering of Parliaments. Thus the legislature then in session continued to be the Thirty-fourth Parliament, and its successors have been numbered accordingly. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

History

The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act was passed following the Imperial Conference of 1926 in which, under the shadow of the King-Byng Affair, Canada led a push among the dominions for a reinterpretation of the relationship between Britain and the dominions so that the latter would be equal to the former rather than subordinate. This required a change in the relationship between the Crown and its realms so that the dominions related to the crown independently and directly rather than as subjects of the British government. Imperial Conferences were gatherings of British Empire government leaders in London in 1887, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930 and 1937. ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mackenzie King requested a dissolution of Parliament Lord Byng refused to dissolve Parliament The King-Byng Affair refers to a 1926 Canadian constitutional crisis that occurred when the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Byng of Vimy, refused a request by the Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to... A Dominion is a wholly self-governing or virtually self-governing state of the British Empire or British Commonwealth, particularly one which reached that stage of constitutional development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Canada and New Zealand. ... The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ...

The government of the Irish Free State put the changes introduced by the Act into immediate effect, assuming the right to select its own Governor-General, demanding a direct right of audience with the King, and beginning to accept the credentials of international ambassadors to the Irish state—something no other Dominion up until that time had done. The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British... Governor-General (or Governor General) is a term used both historically and currently to designate the appointed representative of a head of state or their government for a particular territory, historically in a colonial context, but no longer necessarily in that form. ...

The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act was followed by the Statute of Westminster 1931 which granted Dominon parliaments the power to enact or amend almost any legislation they chose, and removed the right, in most circumstance, for the British Parliament to legislate for the Dominions. The Statute of Westminster 1931 was the enactment of the United Kingdom Parliament (December 11, 1931) which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom. ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ...

Most Dominions were slower than the Irish Free State to respond to the constitutional changes of 1927 and 1931 with moves to sever such ties with the United Kingdom, and many, when they did, were faced with determined, though ultimately futile, opposition from the United Kingdom's government of the day. Many Dominions waited until the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952 to codify their new autonomy into domestic law. Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), born 21 April 1926, is the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda... 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

An interesting consequence of the 1927 Act was that Edward VIII's abdication in 1936 required separate legal acknowledgement in each Commonwealth nation. In the Irish Free State, that acknowledgment, in the form of the External Relations Act, occurred a day later than elsewhere, leaving Edward technically as "King of Ireland" for a day, while George VI was king of all other Commonwealth realms. Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor), later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), was the second British monarch of the House of Windsor. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, most of which were once governed by the United Kingdom and are its former colonies. ... The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936 was an enactment of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) in 1936. ... Henry VIII, became King of Ireland in 1542. ... George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George) (December 14, 1895 - February 6, 1952) was the third British monarch of the House of Windsor, reigning from December 11, 1936 to February 6, 1952. ...

In 1948 and 1953, further changes were made to the title of the monarch by British Acts of Parliament. However the law passed in 1953 was the first to apply only to the United Kingdom and its dependencies. In that year the practice was begun of using separate styles for each of the Commonwealth Realms in which the monarch is head of state, the style in each case determined by the native parliament. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. ... The President of the United States visits the President of the Philippines. ...

In 1953 the Dominion governments agreed that the practice of separate titles should continue in the reign of the new Queen Elizabeth II. Each country adopted their own titles, the British act of parliament clearly stated that it applied only to the United Kingdom and those overseas territories whose foreign relations were controlled by the UK government Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), born 21 April 1926, is the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda...

See also

• Style of the British Sovereign

The precise style of British Sovereigns has varied over the years. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927

• The text of the Royal Proclamation, from Wikisource
• Royal Styles and Titles of Great Britain: Documents. Full text of the Act and of the royal proclamation.