Former British protectorates and mandates that did not become members of the Commonwealth are Egypt (independent in 1922), Iraq (1932), Transjordan (1946), Palestine (part of which became the state of Israel in 1948), Sudan (1956), British Somaliland (which united with the former Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the ...
Guyana became a republic in 1970, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, and Dominica also became a republic two years later. In November 2021, Barbados became the first country to cut ties with the British Royal family in over 30 years, prompting a new republicanism movement across the region.
In later years, under the presidency of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe dominated Commonwealth affairs, creating acrimonious splits in the organisation. Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 for breaching the Harare Declaration. In 2003, when the Commonwealth refused to lift the suspension, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth.
Why China is not part of the Commonwealth Games? As China was never a part of the British Colonization thus it is not a Commonwealth of Nations.
The last two countries to join the Commonwealth were Gabon and Togo in 2022.
The Commonwealth was also beset by some members opting to withdraw from the organization, as did Ireland (1949), South Africa (1961), and Pakistan (1972), though both South Africa and Pakistan eventually rejoined (the former in 1994 and the latter in 1989).
There have been further constitutional changes in some of the Commonwealth realms during The Queen's reign. The Constitution Act, 1982 patriated the British North America Act, 1867 to Canada , thus ending any Canadian dependence on the Parliament of Westminster and further defining its complete independence.
The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony.
As Australia's history is closely tied to Britain we have chosen to maintain our membership of the Commonwealth to the present-day. Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York (Later King George V), May 9, 1901.
Australia is a founding member of the modern Commonwealth and has been an active participant in Commonwealth organisations, programs and meetings for over 60 years.
Four countries have ever been suspended from the Commonwealth since the inception of the device in 1987. It was first applied to Fiji during the 1987 Fijian coups d'état which resulted in its democratic institutions being overthrown.
While Commonwealth conferences were normally held biennially, this conference was held after an interval of only a year following the May 1960 conference due to disagreement over South Africa and whether the country should be removed from the Commonwealth due to its policy of racial segregation.
It was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the Crown being represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end with the enactment of the constitution of 1961, by which it became a republic and left the Commonwealth of Nations. The Republic of South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth in 1994.
India's shift to republicanism in 1949 influenced the Commonwealth of Nations' decision to include republic states. Nowadays both independent and republic states can maintain membership to the Commonwealth. Ireland and Zimbabwe are the only republic states to have withdrawn from the Commonwealth entirely.
About 2.5 billion people - out of a global population of eight billion - live in the 56 Commonwealth countries.
The Commonwealth is a group of 54 nations that were once part of the British Empire. The US became independent from the UK in 1776, after 13 American colonies broke away and declared themselves a republic, refusing to recognise the British monarch as their head of state.
Introduction. Australia is a constitutional monarchy with The Queen as Sovereign. As a constitutional monarch, The Queen, by convention, is not involved in the day-to-day business of the Australian Government, but she continues to play important ceremonial and symbolic roles.
Commonwealth member countries benefit from being part of a mutually supportive community of independent and sovereign states, aided by more than 80 Commonwealth organisations. The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, supports Commonwealth member countries to achieve development, democracy and peace.
Britain also wanted more control over their trade with China, as they could only trade with certain officials called Hong merchants. The Opium Wars resulted in two treaties, each expanding the size of Britain's Hong Kong territory.
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841 until its handover to Chinese rule in 1997, with the exception of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945.
Was China colonized by any country? Yes, China was colonized directly by Britain, Portugal, Russia, and China. Many other countries had control over trade in much of China.
At a meeting of Commonwealth prime ministers in 1952 following the death of King George VI, it was agreed that the new Queen Elizabeth could have a royal style and title that was different in each dominion, but with an element common to all the dominions. New Zealand was thus an independent Commonwealth realm.
On 18 April 1949, Ireland formally became a republic in accordance with the Irish Republic of Ireland Act 1948; in doing so, it also formally left the Commonwealth.
A Commonwealth of Republics
Ireland left never to return and Zimbabwe left and is now seeking to re-join. Other countries looking to join the commonwealth include South Sudan, Suriname, Burundi and the as-yet-unrecognized Somaliland. The combined population of the Commonwealth's member states is 2.4bn.