The Commonwealth
In 1949 the London Declaration recognized the British Monarch as the symbol of the free association of independent member nations and as Head of the Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II is the second queen of the Commonwealth and she is currently the head of state the Great Britain, but also of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Granada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and some others islands. In total, assembly of 16 countries, since 1992, is called the Commonwealth realm. The population is more than 134 million people. Actually, inside the Commonwealth, we have to tell the difference between the Commonwealth Realm and the Commonwealth of Nations. This first assembles 16 countries which recognise the Queen as their sovereign. The parliament of those kingdoms has adopted a law recognising the monarch of Great Britain as theirs. And the Commonwealth of Nation, constituted of 53 States, but the 37 others States, which are not in the Commonwealth Realm, are not lead by the Queen even if she is the Head of the Commonwealth. Throughout Her Majesty’s reign, the Commonwealth has grown from just seven nations to 54 members representing two billion people. The Queen assists occasionally at some important historic events in those Kingdoms. During her reign, she has undertaken more than 200 visits to Commonwealth countries. The Duke of Edinburgh – Philip Mountbatten –, the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family are also regular visitors to the Commonwealth. The last visit was to Australia, from October 19th to October 29th 2011. Many of the members of the Commonwealth were territories which had historically come under British rule at various times by settlement, conquest or cession. The Queen keeps in touch with Commonwealth developments through regular contact with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who is Kamalesh Sharma since 2008, and his Secretariat. This is the Commonwealth's central organization. The Queen also has regular meetings with Heads of Government from Commonwealth countries.
Since 1977, Commonwealth day has been celebrating on the second Monday in March. The Queen attends the Commonwealth day celebrations in London each year. The Heads of Government from the 53 member countries meet every two years during Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings or CHOGMs for short. Each meeting is held in a different member state. The first CHOGM was held in 1971 in Singapore. The most recent was held in Colombo, Sri-Lanka, from November 15th to 17th, 2013. But Elizabeth II was not there and Prince Charles replaced her.
The Commonwealth Games has taken place every 4 years since 1930. It is an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The Queen has also her role in this event. Indeed, she is the patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Since 1958, during the opening ceremony, there is a relay and inside the baton, there is a message from the Queen. This stick goes from Buckingham Palace, crosser seventy nations and travels 190,000 kilometers. This tradition is called the Queen’s Baton Relay. Before this tradition, a message from the Monarch has been read since the first Games. In 2014, the Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow. For those Games, the Queen's Baton Relay was launched on October 9th, 2013, at Buckingham Palace, when the Queen placed her message into the baton.
After 60 years of existence, the Commonwealth is a remarkable organization which remains a major force for change in the world today.