Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the Irish state ruled by the British in 1541, by Act of Parliament of Ireland. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which was created in 1171. King Henry VIII became the first King of Ireland from the High Kingship, which had existed before the Norman invasion of Ireland.
The throne of Ireland was occupied by the King of England, creating a personal union between the Kingdoms of Ireland and England. The Kingdom of Ireland was governed by an executive under the control of Lord Deputy, later named Lord Lieutenant. Although some Irish men held office, most noble Lords Lieutenant was British.
Government
The kingdom was legislated by a bicameral Parliament of Ireland, consisting of the Irish House of Lords and the House of Commons Irish, and almost always met in Dublin. The Irish parliament's powers were restricted to a series of laws, notably the Law Poyning of 1492. Roman Catholics and later Presbyterians were for much of the history of the Irish parliament excluded. In the eighteenth century, Parliament met in a specially designed new house of Parliament (bicameral Parliament's first specifically designed the world) at College Green in the heart of Dublin.
Some restrictions were abolished in 1782 in what became known as the Constitution of 1782. Parliament in this period became known as Grattan's Parliament, in honor of one of the main Irish political opposition leaders of the period, Henry Grattan.
Union with the UK and Irish independence
By the Act of Union of the Irish Parliament, the Kingdom of Ireland merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Irish Parliament ceased to exist, although the executive, chaired by Lord Lieutenant remained active until 1922. The Act was preceded by the failed rebellion and invasion of France in 1798, and was the subject of much controversy, involving a lot of corruption of Irish MPs to ensure approval.
In 1922, the 26 counties south and west that formed the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom. Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, King became King in Ireland. This changed by the Royal Titles Act of 1927, whereby the King explicitly became king of all domains in their own right, becoming King of Ireland. But Kevin O'Higgins, Vice President of Executive Council of the Irish Free State, suggested resurrecting the Kingdom of Ireland as a dual monarchy to unite Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, with the King of Ireland was crowned in a public ceremony in Phoenix Park in Dublin , the idea was abandoned after O'Higgins' assassination by men anti-Treaty the IRA in 1927.