![]() ![]() Though it made all Commonwealth citizens subject to possible immigration control, the target of this law was not white people coming from New Zealand or Australia. In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigration Act was passed by the Conservative government, which ended the automatic right of people from the British colonies and Commonwealth to settle in the U.K. But older divisions of geography, race, and economic power continued to slice through this “family of nations.” Think of the differences in movement and access enjoyed by the different people of the Commonwealth. Now each state would be equal to each, sharing sovereignty, status, and wealth in common. The transition from the British Empire to Commonwealth implied that the hierarchy between Britain and its colonies would dissipate with independence. To think about the Commonwealth’s place in the modern world, it is important to consider what the institution is. ![]() Will Charles oversee the final disintegration of this remnant of empire? Professor Philip Murphy, the former director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, has argued that several countries in the Commonwealth could make “a rush for the door” over the coming years. But barely days into his reign, murmurs of a mass exodus from the Commonwealth club are already stalking the new king. Her very first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957 was set against the transition of the British Empire to the Commonwealth of Nations and described how she took “pride in the new Commonwealth we are building.” Following her death, this personal commitment to the Commonwealth has been highlighted as a mark of the generosity of the queen’s spirit: that her investment in these distant remnants of former British rule held the institution together by sheer force of will.Īs a result, her successor, King Charles III, will ascend to the throne as the head of state for 14 Commonwealth realms too, stretching from Canada to Australia, Jamaica to Papua New Guinea. In the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing last week, much has been made of her personal affection for not only the people of Britain but also all her subjects spread among the members of the Commonwealth. ![]()
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