Editing Viceroy (section)

===India===
{{Further|Governor-General of India|List of governors-general of India|Presidencies and provinces of British India}}
Following adoption of the [[Government of India Act 1858]], which transferred control of India from the [[East India Company]] to the [[The Crown|British Crown]], the Governor-General as representing the Crown became known as the Viceroy. The designation ''Viceroy'', although it was most frequently used in ordinary parlance, had no statutory authority, and was never employed by [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]]. Although the Proclamation of 1858 announcing the assumption of the government of India by the Crown referred to [[Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning|Lord Canning]] as "first viceroy and governor-general", none of the warrants appointing his successors referred to them as ''viceroys'', and the title, which was frequently used in warrants dealing with precedence and in public notifications, was basically one of ceremony used in connection with the state and social functions of the sovereign's representative. The governor-general continued to be the sole representative of the Crown, and the government of India continued to be vested in the Governor-General-in-Council.<ref>''Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (new ed.), Vol. 4, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909, vol 4, p. 16.</ref>

The viceroys reported directly to the [[Secretary of State for India|secretary of state for India]] in London and were advised by the [[Council of India]]. They were largely unencumbered in the exercise of their authority and were among the most powerful men on earth in the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] eras, ruling over an entire [[subcontinent]] with a large military force at their disposal in the form of the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]].<ref>''Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (new ed.), Vol. 4, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909, vol 4, p. 31.</ref> Under the terms of the [[Government of India Act 1919]], viceroys shared some limited aspects of their authority with the [[Central Legislative Assembly]], one of the first steps in the establishment of Indian [[home rule]]. This process was accelerated by the [[Government of India Act 1935]] and ultimately led to the independence of [[Dominion of India|India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] as [[dominion]]s in 1947. Both countries finally severed complete ties with Britain when they became [[republic]]s – India as a [[secularism|secular]] republic in 1950 and Pakistan as an [[Islamic republic]] in 1956.

Alongside the [[Commander-in-Chief, India]], the viceroy was the public face of the British presence in India, attending to many ceremonial functions as well as political affairs. As the representative of the [[Emperor of India|emperors and empress of India]], who were also the kings and queens of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], the viceroy served as the grand master of the two principal [[order of chivalry|orders of chivalry]] of British India: the [[Order of the Star of India]] and the [[Order of the Indian Empire]].
During the office's history, the governors-general of India were based in two cities: [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] until 1911 and New Delhi afterwards. Additionally, whilst Calcutta was the capital of India,<ref name=capitalofIndia>{{citation|last=Pearce|first=William|title=History of India|location=|publisher=William Collins, Sons, & Company|pages=22|year=1876|isbn=| quote=This presidency comprises the lower basins of the Ganges and Mahanuddy. Its chief towns are Calcutta, on the Hooghly, an arm of the Ganges, the capital of India, its seat of government, and the residence of the governor-general;}}</ref> the viceroys spent the summer months at [[Shimla|Simla]]. The two historic residences of the viceroys still stand: the [[Rashtrapati Bhavan|Viceroy's House]] in New Delhi and [[Raj Bhavan, Kolkata|Government House]] in Kolkata. They are used today as the official residences of the [[president of India]] and the [[governor of West Bengal]], respectively. The portraits of the governors-general still hang in a room on the ground floor of the Presidential Palace, one of the last vestiges of both the viceroys and the British Raj.<ref>Nath, Aman, ''Dome Over India'', India Book House Ltd. {{ISBN|81-7508-352-2}}.</ref>

Notable governors-general of India include [[Warren Hastings]], [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Lord Cornwallis]], [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto|The Earl of Minto]], [[Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford|Lord Chelmsford]], and [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]]. Lord Mountbatten served as the last Viceroy of India,<ref name=ViceroyofIndia>{{citation|last=Hunter|first=William|title=The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products|location=London,UK|publisher=Trübner and Co., Ludgate Hill|pages=43|year=1886| quote=all of them under the India-the Twelve orders of the supreme Government of India, consisting of Provinces, the Governor-General in Council. The Governor-General, who also bears the title of Viceroy, holds his court and government at Calcutta in the cold weather, and during summer at Simla, an outer spur of the Himálayas, 7000 feet above the level of the sea. The Viceroy of India, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay, are usually British states- men appointed in England by the Queen}}</ref> but continued on as the first governor-general of the [[Dominion of India]].