The Orange Institution, better known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. It has been a strong supporter of Irish unionism and has had close links with the Ulster Unionist Party which governed Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972. Until the partition of Ireland the Institution had lodges throughout Ireland although it was strongest in the North. There were also branches throughout the British Commonwealth, especially in Scotland and Canada, and in the United States. In the 20th century, the Institution went into decline outside Northern Ireland. Observers have accused the Orange Institution of being a sectarian organisation, due to its goals and its exclusion of Roman Catholics as members. The Order also had and has a substantial fraternal an