Royal charters and royal patronage were historically granted to organisations in Ireland by the Monarch of Ireland when all of Ireland was part of the Kingdom of Ireland and, later, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Since the independence of most of Ireland from the United Kingdom as the Irish Free State in December 1922, and the official abolition of the monarchy by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937 and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, no new royal charters have been granted in the Republic of Ireland.