Governor-General of South Africa
The governor-general of the Union of South Africa was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 May 1961. The Union of South Africa was founded as a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire in 1910 and the office of governor-general was established as the representative of the monarch. Fifty-one years later the country declared itself a republic and the historic link with the British monarchy was broken. The office of governor-general was abolished.
Die Tuynhuys, then-seat of the Governor-General in Cape Town
Image: Herbert John Gladstone
Image: King George 1923 LCCN2014715558 (cropped)
Image: Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
The Union of South Africa was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly a part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.
Holiday Time in Cape Town (1891-1899) depicted an imagined future united South Africa at a time when the idea was being widely debated in the Cape Colony.
The first Union cabinet
South West Africa stamp: Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret on the 1947 Royal Tour of South Africa