I have written a post about the Commonwealth before, which clarified what the Commonwealth actually is, and what it does, and straightened out some incorrect assumptions about it.
This year, Commonwealth Day is particularly significant, because this year is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: for seventy years, she has not only been Queen, but also Head of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth has grown up with the Queen: she has seen it develop from a small group of dominions within the British Empire to a voluntary organisation of fifty-four countries, not all of which have ever been part of the empire. In 1926 – the year the Queen was born – there was a conference attended by Britain, Australia, Canada, India, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa. These, at the time, were dominions, who were part of the British Empire, and shared a common allegiance to the monarch, but were not ruled by Britain, and at this conference these dominions became the British Commonwealth of Nations. This was an early iteration of the Commonwealth as we know it today.
Note, here, that back in 1926 the Commonwealth had ‘British’ in its name. It does not have ‘British’ in the name now, and has not done for many decades. Let us be very clear on that. The Commonwealth is not about spreading British influence and it is not political. It is not just the British Empire under a different name, and was never intended to be. It was created because Britain knew its empire needed to evolve, and indeed was already evolving, into something else that had its origins in the empire, but would grow in a very different direction.
The Commonwealth is all about cooperation, friendship, consensus, advocating for the well-being of small and vulnerable states and encouraging all of its member states to work towards good governance, democracy, peace, and sustainable development. In her Christmas Day speech in 1953, which she actually broadcast from New Zealand because she and the Duke of Edinburgh were on a Commonwealth tour, the Queen said: ‘the Commonwealth bears no resemblance to the Empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception, built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace’.
It has often been described as a family: for example, the Queen told the people of New Zealand in 1953 that she was not, while visiting New Zealand, ‘in a foreign land and amongst alien people, but at home with our kinsmen’; she has spoken as well about ‘coming home’ to Canada. Her 21st birthday speech in 1947, (the one where she devotes her whole life, be it long or short, to our service) refers to a ‘great Imperial family to which we all belong’. The term ‘Imperial’ is not one we would use today to describe the Commonwealth, but remember that this speech was made in 1947, so the term is consistent with the period in which the speech was delivered, when the empire was still (just) in existence. In the Queen’s Commonwealth message for this year, Her Majesty also refers to the Commonwealth as a family (not an Imperial one, though).
The Queen takes her role as Head of the Commonwealth very seriously. The UK may have started to look Europe-ward when decolonisation began – decolonisation meant that the empire no longer had any economic ‘draw’, and it didn’t have that tangible advantage that EU membership did – but the Queen has always believed in the Commonwealth, and it can be said that she plays a very large part in holding the Commonwealth together. Prince Charles has been unanimously chosen to succeed her as the Head of the Commonwealth, and he will, I am sure, fulfil this role admirably.
I am very aware that some countries within the Commonwealth have some things to sort out: for example, many Commonwealth citizens live in poverty, and in at least thirty Commonwealth nations, homosexuality is illegal. But being part of the Commonwealth commits these countries to making an effort to improve these things, and I can support the fact that this framework is at least in place. One under-appreciated fact about the Commonwealth is that flagrant human rights violations can actually get a country suspended from the Commonwealth until they get their act together.
Also, another overlooked fact about the Commonwealth is that it is huge: it includes around a third of the world’s population, with member states on every continent. Approximately 60% of the Commonwealth population is under the age of 30, and looking towards the future, empowering young people, and preserving the planet for future generations are all important Commonwealth priorities.
I like Commonwealth Day, and the things the Commonwealth stands for: consensus rather than division, co-operation rather than competition, evolution rather than revolution…these are all Commonwealth values, and I can get behind this; it’s just my speed. It reflects the middle way, which I think I will have to explain in another post.
Now I shall try and watch some coverage of the Commonwealth Day service from Westminster Abbey.
Further Reading
For more resources and information about all aspects of the Commonwealth and its history, https://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/resources
See also www.commonwealth.org, www.royalcommonwealthsociety.org, and www.royal.uk/commonwealth-and-overseas
The previous Commonwealth post was this one: https://howitwasbecause.wordpress.com/2021/01/01/clarifying-the-commonwealth/
The Commonwealth Day service was broadcast by the BBC; it might end up on the BBC Youtube channel after the fact, although I haven’t found it at the time of posting this…
How It Was Because 