Lord-Lieutenant

Lord-Lieutenant

The title Lord-Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representative in each English geographic county. Usually some retired local notable, a senior army officer, peer or business person is given the honorary post. One of their principal responsibilities is to formally welcome members of the Royal Family when they visit the County.

Originally a Lord-Lieutenant was assigned to each of the traditional counties, but these boundaries have not matched for hundreds of years. In England and Wales the areas they are assigned to are still called counties.

See: Ceremonial counties of England, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, Ceremonial counties of Wales.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the head of the British administration in Ireland until the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922.