Letter of Credence - Head of State

Head of State

Given that a head of state sends a letter of credence to a fellow head of state, the converse is true also. The person who sends a letter of credence is by implication a head of state (unless they are acting as the representative or designate of a head of state; for example, a governor-general). This became a source of dispute in independent Ireland from December 1936 to the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, when from 1937 to 1949 Ireland had both a President of Ireland and King George VI, who had been proclaimed King of Ireland. Given that under the External Relations Act the role of representing Ireland in the accreditation of ambassadors belonged to the King of Ireland on the advice of the Irish government, between those years the Irish head of state was unambiguously the King of Ireland. After April 1949, when that role was given by law to the President of Ireland, the President became Irish head of state.

In 2005, Canada changed its Letter of Credence and Letter of Recall by removing all references to Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada, Canada's head of state, instead having them run in the name of the Governor General, who is the Queen's representative. Australia and New Zealand have since followed suit, in consultation with Elizabeth II's Private Secretary. There is currently a movement to reverse these decisions by the Monarchist League of Canada.