Editing Monarchy of Ireland (section)

===Re-creation of title===
{{Main|Kingdom of Ireland}}

[[File:Hans Holbein, the Younger, Around 1497-1543 - Portrait of Henry VIII of England - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Henry VIII claimed the title "King of Ireland" in 1542.]]
The title "King of Ireland" was created by an act of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] in 1541, replacing the [[Lordship of Ireland]], which had existed since 1171, with the [[Kingdom of Ireland]].

[[Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset|The 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset]], Henry VIII's illegitimate son and [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]], had been considered for elevation as the newly created King of Ireland.  However, Henry VIII's counsellors feared that creating a separate Kingdom of Ireland, with a ruler other than that of England, would create another threat like the [[King of Scotland]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scarisbrick |first=J.J. |title=English Monarchs: Henry VIII |publisher=[[University of California Press]]}}</ref> and Richmond died in 1536.

The [[Crown of Ireland Act 1542]] established a [[personal union]] between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was King of England was to be King of Ireland as well, and so its first holder was King [[Henry VIII]] of England. Henry's sixth and last wife, [[Catherine Parr|Katherine Parr]], was the first Queen consort of Ireland following her marriage to King Henry in 1543.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parr |first=Katherine |title=Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence |date=2011 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |editor-last=Mueller |editor-first=Janel |page=178 |chapter=Last Will and Testament of Dowager Queen Katherine Parr |author-link=Katherine Parr}}</ref>

The title of King of Ireland was created after Henry VIII had been excommunicated in 1538, so it was not recognised by European Catholic monarchs. Following the accession of the Catholic [[Mary I of England|Mary I]] in 1553 and her marriage to [[Philip II of Spain]], in 1554, [[Pope Paul IV]] issued the [[papal bull]] "[[List of papal bulls|Ilius]]" in 1555, recognising them as Queen and King of Ireland together with her heirs and successors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The papal bull "ILIUS" of 1555 conferring the title of King of Ireland upon Philip II |url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/ireland_docs.htm#bull1555}}</ref>

For a brief period in the 17th century, during the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] from the impeachment and execution of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1649 to the [[Restoration (Ireland)|Irish Restoration]] in May 1660, there was no 'King of Ireland'. After the [[Irish Rebellion of 1641]], [[Irish Catholics]], organised in [[Confederate Ireland]], still recognised Charles I, and later [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], as legitimate monarchs, in opposition to the claims of the [[Parliament of England|English Parliament]], and signed a formal treaty with Charles I in 1648. However, in 1649, the [[Rump Parliament]], victorious in the [[English Civil War]], executed Charles I, and made England a republic, or "[[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]". The Parliamentarian general [[Oliver Cromwell]] came across the [[Irish Sea]] to crush the Irish royalists, temporarily uniting England, Scotland, and Ireland under one government, and styling himself "[[Lord Protector]]" of the three kingdoms (''see also [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]]''). After Cromwell's death in 1658, his son [[Richard Cromwell|Richard]] emerged as the leader of this pan-[[British Isles]] republic, but he was not competent to maintain it. The [[Parliament of England]] at [[Westminster]] voted to restore the monarchy, and in 1660 King Charles II returned from exile in France to become King of England, King of Scotland and King of Ireland.