The Council of Three (, ) was a collegial body created by the

Polish Government in Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

in 1954 with

prerogative In law, a prerogative is an exclusive right bestowed by a government or State (polity), state and invested in an individual or group, the content of which is separate from the body of rights enjoyed under the general law. It was a common facet of ...

s of the

President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

. It consisted of three members of the government chosen by the Council of National Unity (''Rada Jedności Narodowej''), a rump parliament in exile. It was created in 1954, after President August Zaleski declined to leave his office after his seven-year term ended. According to the Polish April 1935

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, the legal basis for the existence of the government in exile, the president was allowed to choose his successor "during a war, in case his office falls vacant before the peace treaty is signed". The post-war ''Akt Zjednoczenia Narodowego'' (''National Unity Act'') was an agreement among all the major political parties that assumed that presidents were to choose their successors every seven years, but that was rejected by Zaleski. Initially, the ''Rada Trzech'' was a self-proclaimed committee of opposition to Zaleski, but on 21 July 1956, the ''Rada Jedności Narodowej'' granted it the powers of the Polish

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. It was dissolved in July 1972, following Zaleski's death on 7 April that year. The ''Rada Trzech'' ceded its powers to Zaleski's successor, Stanisław Ostrowski.

Members

The members of the Rada Trzech were: * General

Władysław Anders Władysław Albert Anders (11 August 1892 – 12 May 1970) was a Polish military officer and politician, and prominent member of the Polish government-in-exile in London. Born in Krośniewice-Błonie, then part of the Russian Empire, he serv ...

(until 1970) * Edward Raczyński (until 1972) * Tomasz Arciszewski (until 1955) Tomasz Arciszewski died in 1955. His place was taken by: * General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (1956-1966) * General Roman Odzierzyński (1966-1968) * Stanisław Mglej (1968-1969) * Alfred Urbański (1969-1972)

died in 1970. His place was taken by: * General Stanisław Kopański (1970-1972)

Members

See also