Commonwealth realm

A Commonwealth realm is one of 16 sovereign states that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, have Queen Elizabeth II as the reigning constitutional monarch, and have in common the same royal line of succession.

The Statute of Westminster 1931 provided for the then Dominions—named therein as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland—to have full or nearly full legislative independence as equal members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, having with the United Kingdom one person as the sovereign of each respectively. Thereafter, India and Pakistan in 1947 and Ceylon in 1948 became Dominions. By the early 1950s, in order to reflect the equality between the countries in that group, each (including the United Kingdom, but not the former Irish Free State and India, which had by that time become republics) came to be known as a realm. The term was formally used with Britain's proclamation of Elizabeth II as queen in 1952 and was adopted for the modern royal styles and titles under the legislation enacted by the individual countries. The phrase Commonwealth realm is only an informal description, not an official term. The sovereign status of other Commonwealth realms was later granted directly.