Similarly, each of the Governors-General has a personal flag, all except one featuring a lion passant on top of a royal crown, with the name of the country written in capitals on a scroll underneath. The only one different is that of the Governor General of Canada, in which the lion is not on a crown, but wearing one, and bears a maple leaf in one paw; the scroll is also absent from the Canadian design.

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Historical development

Fourteen of the current Commonwealth realms, and all of the former realms, are former British colonies that have evolved into independent countries. The exceptions are the United Kingdom itself and Papua New Guinea, which was formed in 1975 as a union of the former German New Guinea, which had been administered by Australia as an international trusteeship before independence, and the former British New Guinea, which had legally been a British possession, though administered on the United Kingdom's behalf by Australia (as "Papua") since 1905.

The possibility that a British colony might become a new kingdom was first mooted in the 1860s, when it was proposed that the Canadian Confederation might become known as the Kingdom of Canada. In the face of opposition from the Colonial Office and the United States, however, the self-governing confederation created in 1867 became officially known as the Dominion of Canada.

During the latter part of the 19th century, various other colonies became self-governing. At the Imperial Conference of 1907, the Canadian Prime Minister, Wilfrid Laurier, insisted on the need for a formula to differentiate between the crown colonies and the self-governing colonies. The term Dominion, which till this time had applied uniquely to Canada, was extended to cover all self-governing colonies, which at that time included Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, the Cape Colony, Natal and Transvaal. Shortly afterwards, in 1910, the three South African colonies merged with the Orange River Colony to form the Union of South Africa. In 1921, they were joined by the Irish Free State which had unwillingly accepted Dominion status as a condition of concluding peace with the United Kingdom.

King George V (centre) with his prime ministers at the Imperial Conference of 1926; Walter Stanley Monroe, Prime Minister of Newfoundland, stands far left; W.T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State stands at far right; Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is seated to the left of the King; and William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, is seated to the right of the King.

Although the Dominions were self-governing, their ability to legislate remained theoretically subject to the British Parliament, and the Monarch of the United Kingdom nominally reigned over them as a single imperial domain, with a governor-general representing the British government in each Dominion; the United Kingdom retained responsibility for their foreign policy and defence. In practice, this unitary model continued to erode. The international role of the Dominions increased as a result of their participation and sacrifices in the First World War, which prompted Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, and Jan Smuts, the South African Minister of Defence, to demand that the Dominions be given full recognition at the Versailles conference as "autonomous nations of an Imperial commonwealth." As a result, the Dominions were separate signatories to the Treaty of Versailles, and obtained seats in the League of Nations, together with India. In 1920, Canada exchanged envoys with the United States, and in 1923 it concluded a treaty in its own right: the Halibut Fisheries Treaty. In 1925, the Dominions refused to be bound by the British signature to the Treaty of Locarno.

The Balfour Declaration of 1926, embodying agreements reached at the 1926 Imperial Conference formally recognised that in practice the Dominions had in recent years evolved into full sovereignty, by declaring that they were autonomous and equal in status to the UK. As a result, each of the governments of the Dominions established a separate and direct relationship with the Monarchy, with the governor-general now acting as a personal representative of the Sovereign. The first result of the new convention was the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, which implicitly recognised the Irish Free State as separate from the United Kingdom, and the King as king of each Dominion rather than the British king in each Dominion.^{[verification needed]}

The Balfour Declaration was legally implemented in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster, which granted formal legislative independence to the Dominions, with some minor reservations that were in practice never enforced. Canada, the Union of South Africa, and the Irish Free State all immediately obtained legislative independence from the United Kingdom through the statute. In some Dominions, adoption of the Statute was subject to ratification by the Dominion parliament. Australia and New Zealand achieved the same status after their parliaments ratified the Statute, in 1942 and 1947, respectively (Australia's ratification being back-dated to 1939). The statute also covered Newfoundland, but it was never ratified there, and the dominion reverted to colonial status in 1934, eventually joining Canada in 1949.

The Statute of Westminster retained some residual constitutional functions for the Westminster parliament, such as the right to legislate for a Dominion by request, and reserving the right to alter certain aspects of the constitutions of some Dominions. The Irish Free State gradually eroded these rights after 1936, and they finally lapsed there when it formally became a republic in 1949. South Africa became a republic in 1961, which also severed its remaining constitutional links to the United Kingdom. Canada completed this process in 1982 in cooperation with the United Kingdom, and Australia did the same in 1986.

Governor General and Viceroy of India Earl Mountbatten overseeing the transfer of power, creating India as a Commonwealth realm, August 15, 1947.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the first time the monarch swore to "govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs."

Although the Dominions were now effectively independent kingdoms under a common monarch, and acted increasingly independently of the United Kingdom, their citizens retained a common citizenship, which was defined in terms of allegiance to the Sovereign, without regard to the Dominion of residence. Although Canada (in 1921) and the Irish Free State (in 1935) had passed their own nationality legislation, this concept did not come into question until the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946. This resulted in an agreement in 1947 that each Commonwealth member was free to pass their own citizenship legislation, so that their citizens only owed allegiance to the Crown in right of his or her own country.

The next stage in the creation of the Commonwealth realms took place with the dissolution of the Indian Empire. The possibility that a colony might be granted independence without even remaining in the Commonwealth was recognised for the first time in the Cripps Declaration of 1942, and the decision by Burma to become an independent republic outside the Commonwealth in 1948 met with no opposition. India and Pakistan became independent as Dominions in order to accelerate the process while keeping them in the Commonwealth, so that they could complete their constitutions as independent nations. Ceylon, which, as a crown colony, was originally promised "fully responsible status within the British Commonwealth of Nations", was formally granted independence as a Dominion to assure it of equal status with India and Pakistan. Ceylon became the last newly independent colony to be entitled a Dominion. Finally, the London Declaration of 1949 established the formula by which republics could remain within the Commonwealth if they so chose. This process finally established the principle that former colonies, once granted independence, whether as republics or under the Crown, were fully equal in status to each other and to the United Kingdom.

As these constitutional developments were taking place, the British government was concerned with how to represent them. At the 1948 Prime Ministers Conference, the term Dominion was avoided in favour of Commonwealth country; at the same time, the term "British Commonwealth" was replaced by "Commonwealth of Nations"; in both cases to avoid the subordination implied by the older terms. The final step was the recognition of each Dominion under the Crown as a Commonwealth realm. This was initiated by the UK's proclamation of the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952, issued at St. James Palace, which declared her to be Queen "of this Realm, and of her other Realms and Territories". It also marked the first inclusion of the title Head of the Commonwealth, and the first reference to "representatives of other Members of the Commonwealth" as among those proclaiming. Following this, the phrase "British Dominions beyond the Seas" was replaced with "her other Realms and Territories" within each of Elizabeth's titles, the latter using the medieval French word "realm" (from royaume) to replace the previous use of Dominion.

In 1953, a Royal Style and Titles Act was passed separately in each of the seven realms then existing except Pakistan, which gave formal recognition to the separateness and the equality of the realms by entitling the Queen as "Queen of [realm] and her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth" (thus overturning the convention laid out on this point in the Statute of Westminster). South Africa and Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) adopted this formula immediately, while Australia, Canada and New Zealand recognised the monarch as also being queen of the United Kingdom in her title. At her Coronation she took a separate oath for each realm. At the time, it was argued that the whole point was to reflect the established fact that the Crown was now legally divisible and all the realms were legally equal in status. In the Commons debate, Patrick Gordon Walker stated: "We in this country have to abandon... any sense of property in the Crown. The Queen, now, clearly, explicitly and according to title, belongs equally to all her realms and to the Commonwealth as a whole".

The principle of fully separate and equal realms was followed in all future grants of independence. Other realms achieved independence through the "winds of change" that swept through Africa in the 1960s, the collapse of the Federation of the West Indies in 1961, or at later dates. The latest country to become a Commonwealth realm was Saint Kitts and Nevis, upon independence in 1983. All these realms had previously been British colonies. When Papua New Guinea became independent of Australia in 1975, this was the first (and so far the last) time a Commonwealth realm was created that had never been made up of British colonies in its entirety. Most of these realms became independent with full constitutional autonomy, although in some cases certain links to the United Kingdom were voluntarily retained, such as the right of appeal to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

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Former Commonwealth realms/Dominions

Immediately after their granting of independence from the United Kingdom, most Commonwealth countries opted to retain the same monarch as head of state, entering into personal union with the UK. Starting in the 1930s, however, Ireland, and then India in the late 1940s, agitated for a break from that relationship and the establishment of a republican form of govnerment. Ireland created its office of president in 1937, but in doing so was not allowed to remain in the British Commonwealth. By 1950, however, India ended its status as a Dominion and became the first republic within the Commonwealth.

As the British Empire dissolved following the Second World War, most newly independent countries opted to retain the same monarch as head of state, though now distinctly as monarch of that country. However, a number of those that became Commonwealth realms drafted, within a few years, new constitutions, or amended existing ones, in order to become republics. This was especially true in post-colonial Africa, where leaders, during a time of strong anti-imperialist attitudes, preferred not to continue in a personal union relationship with other nations, opting instead to set up a resident head of state. However, these countries followed India's lead and remained members of the Commonwealth, recognising, as per the London Declaration, the British monarch as its head.

Other former British colonies, protectorates, mandates, and trust territories never became Commonwealth realms, becoming republics or countries under a newly established, or a re-established, royal dynasty. Burma, Sudan, Cyprus, Zambia, Botswana, South Yemen, Somaliland, Nauru, the Seychelles, Dominica, Kiribati, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Vanuatu became republics immediately upon independence from Britain. Similarly, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Malaya, Zanzibar, the Maldives, Sikkim, Brunei, Tonga, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, the Trucial States, Swaziland, and Lesotho, all had their own monarchies, many of them having been British protectorates. Hyderabad, which unsuccessfully attempted to establish its independence in 1947 separately from India, and Kalat, which similarly tried to remain independent from Pakistan, also had their own monarchies.

Jawaharlal Nehru signing the Constitution of India, ending the country's status as a Commonwealth realm.

Ian Smith signs the Unilateral Declaration of Independence for Rhodesia on November 11, 1965.

Some former colonies did not become Commonwealth realms because they became part of larger entities, rather than achieving independence. The mandate of Palestine was divided between Israel, Jordan, and Egypt in 1948. Newfoundland, although a Dominion covered by the Statute of Westminster, never ratified the statute; instead, it reverted to colonial status in 1934 and became a province of Canada in 1949. The British-administered, former Italian territories of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania merged with the French-administered Fezzan to form the kingdom of Libya in 1951. Eritrea, a former Italian colony administered by the United Kingdom after World War II, under the authority of the United Nations, was federated with Ethiopia in 1952. In 1961, Northern Cameroons was absorbed into Nigeria, and Southern Cameroons into Cameroon. In 1963, the crown colonies of Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo joined Malaya (independent in 1957) to form Malaysia, which has its own monarchy. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China in 1997. And finally, some former colonies that are now independent countries were never Commonwealth realms because they were formed from a successor state, rather than achieving independence from Britain directly. Singapore, which was part of Malaysia until 1965, and Bangladesh, which was East Pakistan until 1971, fall into this category.

Two territories attempted to become Commonwealth realms, but failed. The first instance was when the white minority government of Rhodesia issued its unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, its members affirmed their loyalty to Elizabeth II as Queen of Rhodesia, a title to which she had not consented, did not accept, and was not recognised internationally. Her representative in the colonly, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, immediately dismissed his Prime Minister, Ian Smith, but this action was ignored by Smith and he appointed, without the Queen's consent, an Officer Administrating the Government to perform the Governor's constitutional duties. In 1970, Smith's government declared Rhodesia a republic. The second example was when, in 1973, after mention of the United Kingdom was removed from Elizabeth II's titles in Australia, the government of the state of Queensland, concerned that this action was a first step towards declaring Australia to be a republic, sought to declare her Queen of Australia, Queensland and her Other Realms and Territories, in order to ensure that the monarchy would at least be entrenched in Queensland. The action was blocked by the High Court of Australia in the so-called Queen of Queensland case in 1974. While no other state has attempted to achieve status as a realm, the possibility was raised by both sides during the debate on the referendum of 1999 that a decision to make the country a republic might lead to the creation of separate monarchies in one or more of the individual states.

There are currently movements in some Commonwealth realms to end the country's personal union with the other realms, most advocating a republican government in place of the present constitutional monarchy. These groups are of varying age and have exercised fluctuating influence in politics and national life in each country through the previous decades. In April 2005, four republican organisations within Commonwealth realms, Australian Republican Movement, Citizens for a Canadian Republic, the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand, and Republic in the United Kingdom, launched Common Cause. However, groups such as the International Monarchist League, the Australian Monarchist League, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, the Monarchist League of Canada, and the Monarchist League of New Zealand advocate for the retention of their respective countries' status as Commonwealth realms.

Further information: Republicanism in Australia, Republicanism in Canada, Debate on the monarchy in Canada, Republicanism in New Zealand, and Republicanism in the United Kingdom

The former Commonwealth Dominions/realms, the periods in which they were Dominions/realms, and the reason(s) why they ceased to be Dominions/realms, are as follows:

Flag1	Country	From	To	Original system of government	Reason	Former royal standard
	Ceylon2	1948	1972	Parliamentary republic	New constitution
	Fiji	1970	1987	Parliamentary republic	Military coup
	Gambia	1965	1970	Presidential republic	Referendum
	Ghana	1957	1960	Presidential republic	Referendum
	Guyana	1966	1970	parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
	India[24]	1947	1950	Parliamentary republic	New constitution
	Ireland[25]	1931	1936/1949	Parliamentary republic	Act of parliament (See also: Irish head of state from 1936-1949)
	Kenya	1963	1964	Presidential republic	New constitution
	Malawi	1964	1966	Single-party republic	New constitution
	Malta	1964	1974	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
	Mauritius	1968	1992	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
	Nigeria	1960	1963	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
	Pakistan	1947	1956	Parliamentary republic	New constitution
	Rhodesia3	1965	1970	Parliamentary republic	New constitution
	Sierra Leone	1961	1971	Presidential republic	New constitution
	South Africa	1931	1961	Parliamentary republic	Referendum
	Tanganyika4	1961	1962	Presidential republic	New constitution
	Trinidad and Tobago	1962	1976	Parliamentary republic	New constitution
	Uganda	1962	1963	Parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment

_{¹Flags are those in use at the time the country was a Commonwealth realm. Ceylonese flag changed in 1951. Rhodesian flag changed in 1968.
²Now Sri Lanka.
³Now Zimbabwe. De facto realm but not de jure, mostly unrecognised internationally, and not a Commonwealth member. See discussion above.
⁴Now part of Tanzania.}

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See also

• States headed by Elizabeth II
• Self-governing colony
• Crown Colony
• Monarchy

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References

• V. Bogdanor, The Monarchy and the Constitution (Oxford, 1995)
• P. McIntyre, "The Strange Death of Dominion Status", Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 27:2 (1999) 193-212

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Footnotes

v • d • e Commonwealth realms Antigua and Barbuda · Australia · Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Grenada · Jamaica · New Zealand · Papua New Guinea · St Kitts and Nevis · St Lucia · St Vincent and the Grenadines · Solomon Islands · Tuvalu · United Kingdom

v • d • e Monarchies Absolute monarchies Brunei · Oman · Saudi Arabia · Swaziland · Vatican Constitutional monarchies Antigua and Barbudac · Australiac · Andorra · Bahamasc · Bahrain · Barbadosc · Belizec · Belgium · Bhutan · Cambodia · Canadac · Denmark · Grenadac · Jamaicac · Japanj · Jordan · Kuwait · Liechtenstein · Lesotho · Luxembourg · Malaysia · Monaco · Morocco · Netherlands · New Zealandc · Norway · Papua New Guineac · Qatarq · Spain · Saint Kitts and Nevisc · Saint Luciac · Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesc · Solomon Islandsc · Sweden · Thailand · Tonga · Tuvaluc · United Arab Emiratesu · United Kingdomc Elective monarchies Andorra · Cambodia · Kuwait · Malaysia · Swaziland · United Arab Emiratesu · Vatican Subnational monarchies Alo (Wallis and Futuna) · Ankole (Uganda) · Ashanti (Ghana) · Buganda (Uganda) · Bunyoro (Uganda) · Busoga (Uganda) · Dagbon (Ghana) · Māori (New Zealand) · Sigave (Wallis and Futuna) · Tibet (People's Republic of China) · Toro (Uganda) · Uvea (Wallis and Futuna) · Yogyakarta (Indonesia) · Zululand (South Africa) (c) All 16 Commonwealth realms share one monarch represented, except for the U.K., by a Governor-General  · (j) Monarch debatable as being true Head of State. · (q) Technically a constitutional monarchy but displays effective properties of an absolute monarchy. (u) Uses the non-monarchical title President.