The Prime Minister's Message to the King, upon the Opening of Parliament.
In ArchivePaper letter detailing The Prime Minister Lloyd George’s reflections upon the Opening of the Northern Parliament in Belfast Collection Ref: RCIN PS/PSO/GV/C/K1702/8
The Prime Minister's Message to the King, upon the Opening of Parliament.
The letter from Lloyd George, Prime Minister, to King George V, congratulating him on the occasion of his attendance at the Opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament on 22nd June 1921
The two-page letter, in typescript, is typed upon two sheets of paper, which have each been embossed with the Downing Street Seal.
The Letter is dated 23 June 1921, the day after the Opening of Parliament, at Belfast City Hall, by The King.
The Letter is signed personally by Lloyd George, in his own hand, and the full Text is as follows:
I am confident that I can speak not only for the Government of the United Kingdom, but for the whole Empire, in offering Your Majesty and the Queen the hearty congratulations of all your loyal subjects on the success of your visit to Belfast.
We have been deeply moved by the devotion and enthusiasm with which you were greeted, and our faith in the future is strengthened by the reception given to Your Majesty's words in inaugurating the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
None but the King could have made that personal appeal; none but the King could have evoked so instantaneous a response.
No effort shall be lacking on the part of your Ministers to bring Northern and Southern Ireland together in recognition of a common Irish responsibility, and I trust that from now onwards a new spirit of forbearance and accommodation may breathe upon the troubled waters of the Irish question.
Your Majesty may rest assured of the deep gratitude of your peoples for this new act of Royal service to their ideals and interests.
Owned by by Royal Collections Trust Collection Ref: RCIN PS/PSO/GV/C/K1702/8.Images Used with Permission Royal Archives / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021