The office of Governor-General was itself abolished in 1972 and replaced by the post of President when Sri Lanka became a republic.

Initially limited to the coastal regions, the authority of the governor was extended to the provinces of the Kingdom of Kandy following the Kandyan Convention in 1815.

it was in the Colebrooke Reforms which first defined the role of the governor as "the representative of the Sovereign the Monarch who rules over the Parliament of the United Kingdom".

The governor was the ex-officio Chancellor of the University of Ceylon and patron of the Royal College Colombo.

The vacationing residence of the governor, Queen's Cottage, was located in the hill station of Nuwara Eliya.