User:Peter Ormond/Monarchy of Ceylon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From 1948 to 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon functioned as an independent constitutional monarchy in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign and head of state of the country. Ceylon shared the sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms, with the country's monarchy being separate and legally distinct. The monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties were mostly delegated to their representative, the governor-general of Ceylon.
This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Monarchy of Ceylon | |
---|---|
Details | |
Style | His Majesty (1948–1952) Her Majesty (1952–1972) |
First monarch | George VI |
Last monarch | Elizabeth II |
Formation | 4 February 1948 |
Abolition | 22 May 1972 |
The Ceylon Independence Act 1947 transformed the British Crown Colony of Ceylon into an independent sovereign state known as the Dominion of Ceylon. Upon independence in 1948, King George VI became the monarch of Ceylon and reigned until his death in 1952; he was succeeded by his elder daughter Queen Elizabeth II. In 1953, Elizabeth II was granted the official title of Queen of Ceylon by the country's parliament and, in this capacity, she and her husband visited the island nation in April 1954. The Crown primarily functioned as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance and a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power.
The monarchy was abolished on 22 May 1972, when Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka and became a republic within the Commonwealth, thereby ending the island's 2,500-year-old monarchical system.