Dominions emerge The possibility that a colony within the
British Empire might become a new kingdom was first mooted in the 1860s, when it was proposed that the
British North American territories of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the
Province of Canada unite as a
confederation that might be known as the
Kingdom of Canada. 's
The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors: a compiled portrait of the main delegates to the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles, including some of the dominion delegates Although the dominions were capable of governing themselves internally, they remained formally—and substantively in regard to foreign policy and defence—subject to British authority, wherein the governor-general of each dominion represented the
British monarch-
in-Council reigning over these territories as a single
imperial domain. It was held in some circles that the Crown was a monolithic element throughout all the monarch's territories; A.H. Lefroy wrote in 1918 that "the Crown is to be considered as one and indivisible throughout the Empire; and cannot be severed into as many kingships as there are dominions, and self-governing colonies". This unitary model began to erode when the dominions gained more international prominence as a result of their participation and sacrifice in the
First World War. In 1919, Canadian prime minister Sir
Robert Borden and South African minister of defence
Jan Smuts demanded that, at the
Versailles Conference, the dominions be given full recognition as "autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth". As a result, although the King signed as High Contracting Party for the Empire as a whole, the dominions were also separate signatories to the
Treaty of Versailles. They also became, together with India, founding members of the
League of Nations. In 1921 the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
David Lloyd George, stated that the "British dominions have now been accepted fully into the community of nations".
Balfour Declaration of 1926 The pace of independence increased in the 1920s, led by Canada, which exchanged envoys with the United States in 1920 and concluded the
Halibut Treaty in its own right in 1923. not the British government, and, by 1925, the dominions felt confident enough to refuse to be bound by Britain's adherence to the
Treaty of Locarno.
The Viscount Haldane said in 1919 that in Australia the Crown "acts in self-governing States on the initiative and advice of its own ministers in these States". at the
Imperial Conference of 1926 Another catalyst for change came in 1926, when Field Marshal the
Lord Byng of Vimy, then
Governor General of Canada, refused the advice of his prime minister (William Lyon Mackenzie King) in what came to be known colloquially as the
King–Byng Affair. Mackenzie King, after resigning and then being reappointed as prime minister some months later, pushed at the
Imperial Conference of 1926 for a reorganisation of the way the dominions related to the British government, resulting in the Balfour Declaration, which declared formally that the dominions were fully autonomous and equal in status to the United Kingdom. What this meant in practice was not at the time worked out; conflicting views existed, some in the United Kingdom not wishing to see a fracturing of the sacred unity of the Crown throughout the empire, and some in the dominions not wishing to see their jurisdiction have to take on the full brunt of diplomatic and military responsibilities. Though no formal mechanism for tendering advice to the monarch had yet been established—former Prime Minister of Australia
Billy Hughes theorised that the dominion cabinets would provide informal direction and the British Cabinet would offer formal advice—the concepts were first put into legal practice with the passage in 1927 of the
Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act, which implicitly recognised the Irish Free State as separate from the UK, and the King as king
of each dominion uniquely, rather than as the British king
in each dominion. At the same time, terminology in foreign relations was altered to demonstrate the independent status of the dominions, such as the dropping of the term "Britannic" from the King's style outside of the United Kingdom. Then, in 1930 George V's
Australian ministers employed a practice adopted by resolution at that year's Imperial Conference,
Statute of Westminster 1931 and
Wallis Simpson in 1936. His proposal to marry her led to
his abdication, an act that required the consent of the dominions. These new developments were explicitly codified in 1931 with the passage of the
Statute of Westminster, through which Canada, the Union of South Africa, and the Irish Free State all immediately obtained formal legislative independence from the UK, while in the other dominions adoption of the statute was subject to ratification by the dominion's parliament. Australia and New Zealand did so in 1942 and 1947, respectively, with the former's ratification back-dated to 1939, while Newfoundland never ratified the bill and reverted to direct British rule in 1934. As a result, the
parliament at Westminster was unable to legislate for any dominion unless requested to do so, Specific attention was given in the statute's preamble to royal succession, outlining that no changes to that line could be made by the parliament of the United Kingdom or that of any dominion without the assent of all the other parliaments of the UK and dominions, an arrangement a justice of the Ontario Superior Court in 2003 likened to "a treaty among the Commonwealth countries to share the monarchy under the existing rules and not to change the rules without the agreement of all signatories". This was all met with only minor trepidation, either before or at the time, and the government of the Irish Free State was confident that the relationship of these independent countries under the Crown would function as a
personal union, akin to that which had earlier existed between the United Kingdom and
Hanover (1801 to 1837), or between England and Scotland (1603 to 1707). Its first test came, though, with the
abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936, At the height of the crisis, press in South Africa fretted about the Crown being the only thing holding the empire together and the bond would be weakened if Edward VIII continued "weakening kingship". Afterward,
Francis Floud, Britain's high commissioner to Canada, opined that the whole affair had strengthened the connections between the various nations; though, he felt the Crown could not suffer another shock. As the various legislative steps taken by the dominions resulted in Edward abdicating on different dates in different countries, this demonstrated the division of the Crown post-Statute of Westminster. Further, the British parliament was not obliged to fulfil a dominion's request for legislative change. Regardless, in 1935 the British parliament refused to consider the result of the
1933 Western Australian secession referendum without the approval of the Australian federal government or parliament. In 1937, the Appeal Division of the
Supreme Court of South Africa ruled unanimously that a repeal of the
Statute of Westminster in the United Kingdom would have no effect in South Africa, stating: "We cannot take this argument seriously. Freedom once conferred cannot be revoked." Others in Canada upheld the same position. hoped to establish a system of
free trade within the British Commonwealth, to promote unity within the British Empire and to assure Britain's position as a world power. The idea was controversial, as it pitted proponents of imperial trade with those who sought a general policy of trade liberalisation with all nations. The dominions, particularly Canada, were also adamantly against dispensing with their import tariffs, which "dispelled any romantic notions of a 'United Empire'." of
Imperial Preference: the countries retained their import tariffs, but lowered these for other Commonwealth countries. During his tenure as Governor General of Canada,
Lord Tweedsmuir urged the organisation of
a royal tour of the country by King George VI, so that he might not only appear in person before his people, but also personally perform constitutional duties and pay a
state visit to the United States as
king of Canada. While the idea was embraced in Canada as a way to "translate the Statute of Westminster into the actualities of a tour", throughout the planning of the trip that took place in 1939, the British authorities resisted at numerous points the idea that the King be attended by his Canadian ministers instead of his British ones. The Canadian prime minister (still Mackenzie King) was ultimately the minister in attendance, and the King did in public throughout the trip ultimately act solely in his capacity as the Canadian monarch. The status of the Crown was bolstered by Canada's reception of George VI. while New Zealand coordinated a declaration of war to be made simultaneously with Britain's. As late as 1937, some scholars were still of the mind that, when it came to declarations of war, if the King signed, he did so as king of the empire as a whole; at that time,
William Paul McClure Kennedy wrote: "in the final test of sovereignty—that of war—Canada is not a sovereign state... and it remains as true in 1937 as it was in 1914 that when the Crown is at war, Canada is legally at war," and, one year later,
Arthur Berriedale Keith argued that "issues of war or neutrality still are decided on the final authority of the British Cabinet." In 1939, Canada and South Africa made separate proclamations of war against Germany a few days after the UK's. Their example was followed more consistently by the other realms as further war was declared against Italy, Romania, Hungary, Finland and Japan. At the war's end, it was said by F.R. Scott that "it is firmly established as a basic constitutional principle that, so far as relates to Canada, the King is regulated by Canadian law and must act only on the advice and responsibility of Canadian ministers." (standing centre) observes an Australian soldier assembling a machine gun while blindfolded, July 1940. The war had strained the alliance among the Commonwealth countries, which had been noted by the King. The Prime Minister of Australia,
John Curtin, had stated in December 1941 "that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs about our traditional links of kinship with Britain." The Parliament of South Africa voted on 14 January 1942 on a motion proposing the country become a republic and leave the Commonwealth. British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill was told "His Majesty is genuinely alarmed at the feeling, which appears to be growing in Australia and may well be aggravated by further reverses in the Far East. He very much hopes, therefore, that it may be possible to adopt as soon as possible some procedure which will succeed in arresting these dangerous developments without impairing the efficiency of the existing machinery."
Pakistan became a republic in 1956. As these constitutional developments were taking place, the dominion and British governments became increasingly concerned with how to represent the more commonly accepted notion that there was no distinction between the sovereign's role in the United Kingdom and his or her position in any of the dominions. Thus, at the 1948 Prime Ministers' Conference the term
dominion was avoided in favour of
Commonwealth country, to avoid the subordination implied by the older designation.
Second Elizabethan era flanked by representatives of the armed forces of the realms during the Coronation Procession of
King Charles III, 2023 The Commonwealth's prime ministers discussed the matter of the new monarch's title, with St. Laurent stating at the
1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference that it was important to agree on a format that would "emphasise the fact that the Queen is Queen of Canada, regardless of her sovereignty over other Commonwealth countries." was in favour of the idea, but it did not attract wide support. Another thought raised was that viceregal appointments should become trans-Commonwealth; the governor-general of Australia would be someone from South Africa, the governor-general of Ceylon would come from New Zealand, and so on. The prime ministers of Canada and Australia,
John Diefenbaker and
Robert Menzies, respectively, were sympathetic to the concept, but, again, it was never put into practice. On 6 July 2010, Elizabeth II addressed the United Nations in New York City as queen of the 16 Commonwealth realms. The following year,
Portia Simpson-Miller, the
Prime Minister of Jamaica, spoke of a desire to make that country a republic, while
Alex Salmond, the
First Minister of Scotland and leader of the
Scottish National Party (which favours
Scottish independence), stated an independent Scotland "would still share a monarchy with ... the UK, just as ... 16 other Commonwealth countries do now."
Dennis Canavan, leader of
Yes Scotland, disagreed and said a separate, post-independence referendum should be held on the matter. Following the
Perth Agreement of 2011, the Commonwealth realms, in accordance with convention, together engaged in a process of amending the common line of succession according to each country's constitution, to ensure the order would continue to be identical in every realm. In legislative debates in the United Kingdom, the term
Commonwealth realm was employed, but, it remained unused in any law. ==Transitions==