The Monarchy of South Africa (the South African monarchy) was the system of government in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961. South Africa shared the Sovereign with the United Kingdom, other Dominions, and latterly other Commonwealth realms. The monarch's constitutional roles were mostly delegated to the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. The royal succession was governed by the English Act of Settlement of 1701.
The monarchy was abolished on 31 May 1961, when South Africa became a republic and left the Commonwealth. On 1 June 1994 South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth as a republic, after the end of Apartheid.
History
The Monarchy of South Africa was created by the South Africa Act 1909 which united four British colonies in southern Africa: Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony and Transvaal. The Act also made provisions for admitting Rhodesia as a fifth province of the Union in the future, but Rhodesian colonists rejected this option in a referendum held in 1922. South-West Africa became a League of Nations mandate of the Union in 1915. Following a referendum on the subject, South Africa adopted a new constitution in 1961 which abolished the monarchy.
List of monarchs
Titles
Visits
King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, visited South Africa in 1947. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited South Africa, after it became a republic, in 1995 and 1999.
See also
- State President of South Africa
- President of South Africa
- Governor-General of the Union of South Africa