Commonwealth realm

The Commonwealth realms, shown in blue. Countries that used to be commonwealth realms are in red.

A Commonwealth realm is a country in the Commonwealth of Nations which has King Charles III as monarch. They include his home country of the United Kingdom and many of its former colonies or territories. As of 2023, there are 15 commonwealth realms:

In each of the countries outside the UK, the King appoints a Governor-General to represent him, who, after consulting with the government of the realm, has all of the powers and duties of the Monarch. Usually the Governor-General signs all acts of parliament into law, but can wait and ask the King for advice or wait for him to sign the act himself. This happened in 1982 when Queen Elizabeth signed the important Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during a visit to Ottawa, and the Australia Act 1986 in Canberra.

Although King Charles III is monarch of many countries, the British government has no power in the other realms, just as the governments of the other realms have no power in the UK. This is why each realm decides on the Monarch's official title. Usually it is "Queen/King of (realm) and Her/His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth". But two countries mention the UK in their title for the Queen: Grenada uses "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Grenada and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth", while Canada uses the old-fashioned form, which reads "by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith." Not all countries use the title Defender of the Faith.

Commonwealth Realm Media

Charles III, the reigning sovereign of each of the Commonwealth realms since 2022
High Commissioner of Belize to the UK meets with the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. High Commissioners act as liaisons between the governments of the Commonwealth realms.
King George VI, with Queen Elizabeth, grants royal assent to bills in the Senate of Canada, May 1939
Delegates at the Colonial Conference of 1902
Queen Elizabeth II with the Commonwealth prime ministers during their conference in December 1952
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in 1936. His proposal to marry her led to his abdication, an act that required the consent of the dominions.
King George VI (third from right) with his prime ministers (left to right), Michael Savage, Joseph Lyons, Stanley Baldwin, William L.M. King, and James B.M. Hertzog, during the Imperial Conference, April 1937