Social and Personal is one of the longest running columns in The Irish Times

The Irish Times

The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

. Previously called Court and Personal it originally published the Court Circular

Court Circular

The Court Circular is the official record that lists the engagements carried out by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and of the other Commonwealth Realms; the Royal Family; and appointments to their staff and to the court. It is issued by Buckingham Palace and printed a day in arrears at the back...

s of the British Royal Family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...

, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 and details of which members of the Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

 aristocracy were available in their townhouse

Townhouse

A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...

s in Dublin to receive callers.

Following Irish independence in 1922 it covered the smaller court of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State

Governor-General of the Irish Free State

The Governor-General was the representative of the King in the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. Until 1927 he was also the agent of the British government in the Irish state. By convention the office of Governor-General was largely ceremonial...

, with entries placed, as with entries about the Lord Lieutenant, below entries about the Royal Family, both senior and junior members. In the 1940s the column became controversial when it listed engagements for the first and second Presidents of Ireland

President of Ireland

The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...

, Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...

 and Seán T. O'Kelly

Sean T. O'Kelly

Seán Thomas O'Kelly was the second President of Ireland . He was a member of Dáil Éireann from 1918 until his election as President. During this time he served as Minister for Local Government and Minister for Finance...

 below entries for King George VI

George VI of the United Kingdom

George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...

 and his queen consort, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

 and even junior members of the Royal Family. It justified this by noting that under Ireland's External Relations Act King George was acknowledged as "King of Ireland

King of Ireland

A monarchical polity has existed in Ireland during three periods of its history, finally ending in 1801. The designation King of Ireland and Queen of Ireland was used during these periods...

". Its continued use of the British Royal Family reflected the attitude of the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

 (many of whose members read the paper) which until 1949 continued to pray for "the King and Queen" in its Divine Services.

Following the declaration of the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 in 1949 the column ceased to mention British royalty and gradually abandoned mentioning aristocracy. The name was changed to "Social and Personal".

Until around 1978 it published a daily list of who met the President of Ireland in Áras an Uachtaráin

Áras an Uachtaráin

Áras an Uachtaráin , formerly the Viceregal Lodge, is the official residence of the President of Ireland. It is located in the Phoenix Park on the northside of Dublin.-Origins:...

. The reasons why it stopped doing this remain unclear. The then President, Patrick Hillery

Patrick Hillery

Patrick John "Paddy" Hillery was an Irish politician and the sixth President of Ireland from 1976 until 1990. First elected at the 1951 general election as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Clare, he remained in Dáil Éireann until 1973...

 suggested that the paper stopped publishing information being supplied to it. The paper insisted that it stopped receiving information from the Áras.

Today the column only makes an occasional appearance, to enable a prominent (rarely titled) family to announce forthcoming nuptials. Whereas once the Court and Personal or Social and Personal received extensive column space daily, the modern column often gets one or two inches of space on the "Letters of the Editor" page if space allows, and contains often only contains one entry and frequently goes for weeks without being published at all. It is unclear if the column, one of the paper's oldest, will survive, or simply disappear through non-use.