The Lord-Lieutenant reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Lord-Lieutenant

The title Lord-Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives around the United Kingdom. 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 that area.

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 known as ceremonial counties. In Scotland the phrase used is simply lieutenancy areas.

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.

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