The Monarchy of India was the system of government in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign of the India from 1947 to 1950. India shared the same person as its sovereign with the United Kingdom and the other Dominions in the British Commonwealth of Nations. The monarch's constitutional roles were mostly carried out by the Governor-General of India. The royal succession was governed by the Act of Settlement 1701.
The monarchy was abolished on 26 January 1950, when India became a republic within the Commonwealth, the first Commonwealth country to do so.
History
The Monarch of India was created by the Indian Independence Act 1947, which divided British India into the independent sovereign constitutional monarchies of India and Pakistan.
On 22 June 1948, King George VI abandoned the title King-Emperor and Queen Elizabeth Queen-Empress. India adopted a new constitution in 1950 which abolished the monarchy.
List of monarchs
Titles
- 15 August 1947 â€" 22 June 1948: George VI, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
- 22 June 1948 â€" 26 January 1950: George VI, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith.
See also
- Governor-General of India
- President of India