El Hillsborough Castle It is a residence of government officials of North Ireland as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and the official Northern Ireland residence of HM Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family when they visit the region, as well as a guest house for prominent international visitors.
From 1922 to 1972 it was the residence of the Governor of Northern Ireland. The post of Governor, who was the sovereign's Northern Ireland representative, was abolished in 1973.
The Castill Hillsborough, which is located in the town of Hillsborough, County Down, is not a true castle. It is a Georgian mansion, built in the 18th century for the Hill family, Marquesses of Downshire, who owned it until 1922, when the XNUMXth Marquis sold the mansion and its grounds to the British government.
With the purchase the government solved a practical problem. Under the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 a new state called Northern Ireland had been created. The executive power had been assigned to Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland in the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which was supposed to be one of the two features in all of Ireland (along with the Council of Ireland) in the structure of the new house rule .
However that charge was removed in a law change following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which removed it from Southern Ireland (which had actually only existed on paper) and replaced it with the Irish Free State. A new office for Northern Ireland was only created to fill the void, that of Governor of Northern Ireland.
Hillsborough Castle, although outside the capital, Belfast, was considered a suitable place. After some renovations, the first governor, James Albert Edward Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, moved in in 1925.