In 1542, the Irish Parliament enacted "The Crown of Ireland Act 1542," which established that the King of Great Britain would also be the King of Ireland. Subject to a hiccup or two along the way, this system persisted until 1800, when Ireland and Great Britain were merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, Ireland became a free nation, but it still retained the King of Great Britain as its head of state (Northern Ireland, of course, continued to remain and still remains entirely a part of Great Britain).
In 1936, after the abdication of King Edward VIII, Ireland amended its constitution to strip the king of all of his duties except for the appointment of consular and diplomatic representatives to Ireland and the "conclusion" of international agreements when authorized to do so by the Irish government. It was not until 1949 that Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth and the British monarch was no longer involved in the Irish government.
As a result of the foregoing, during World War II, King George VI was involved in the dual role of trying to destroy Germany on behalf of Great Britain while at the same time formally meeting with and receiving the credentials of the German diplomats to Ireland and being available to execute agreements between the Irish and German governments.
In a similar vein, when India and Pakistan were Dominions of the Commonwealth and fighting each other in 1947, George VI was the monarch of both countries simultaneously.
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