Editing Commonwealth realm (section)

{{Short description|Sovereign states where Charles III is the head of state}}
{{Distinguish|Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

[[File:Commonwealth realms map.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|{{legend|#000080|Current Commonwealth realms}}
{{Legend|#5961e6|Territories and dependencies of current realms}}{{Legend|#800000|Former realms and [[dominion]]s that are now republics}}
]]

A '''Commonwealth realm''' is a [[sovereign state]] in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] that has the same [[constitutional monarch]] and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is [[King Charles III]].<ref name=Trepanier28/><ref name=Cox/><ref name=Bogdanor>{{citation| last=Bogdanor| first=Vernon| authorlink=Vernon Bogdanor| title=The Monarchy and the Constitution| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1998 |location=New York| page=288 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mN6SzMefot4C&q=%22overseas+realms%22&pg=PA289 |isbn=978-0-19-829334-7 }}</ref> Except for the [[United Kingdom]], in each of the realms the monarch is represented by a [[governor-general]]. The phrase ''Commonwealth realm'' is an informal description not used in any law.

{{As of|2025}}, there are 15 Commonwealth realms: [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Australia]], [[The Bahamas]], [[Belize]], [[Canada]], [[Grenada]], [[Jamaica]], [[Realm of New Zealand|New Zealand]], [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]], [[Solomon Islands]], [[Tuvalu]], and the United Kingdom. While the Commonwealth of Nations has 56 [[member states of the Commonwealth of Nations|independent member states]], only these 15 have Charles III as head of state. He is also [[Head of the Commonwealth]], a non-constitutional role.

The notion of these states sharing the same person as their monarch traces back to 1867 when Canada became the first [[dominion]], a largely self-governing nation in the [[British Empire]]; others, such as Australia (1901) and New Zealand (1907), followed. With the growing independence of the dominions in the 1920s, the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]] established the Commonwealth of Nations and that the nations were considered "equal in status ... though united by a common allegiance to the Crown".<ref name=Trepanier28/> The ''[[Statute of Westminster 1931]]'' further set the relationship between the realms and [[the Crown]], including a convention that any alteration to the [[Succession to the British throne|line of succession]] in any one country must be voluntarily approved by all the others. The modern Commonwealth of Nations was then formally constituted by the [[London Declaration]] in 1949 when [[India]] wanted to become a [[Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations|republic without leaving the Commonwealth]]; this left seven independent nations sharing the Crown: Australia, Canada, [[Dominion of Ceylon|Ceylon]] (now [[Sri Lanka]]), New Zealand, [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]], and the United Kingdom. Since then, new realms have been created through the independence of former colonies and dependencies; Saint Kitts and Nevis is the youngest extant realm, becoming one in 1983. Some realms became republics; [[Barbados]] changed from being a realm to a republic in 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Torrance |first1=David |date=29 November 2021 |title=Insight: Barbados becomes a republic |trans-title=The Queen will no longer be head of state in Barbados but the country remains a member of the Commonwealth. |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/barbados-becomes-a-republic/ |url-status= |publisher=[[British Parliament]] |publication-date=29 November 2022 |agency=[[House of Commons Library]] |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>