Editing Commonwealth realm (section)

===Post-war evolution===
[[File:Westminster - The Mall - geograph.org.uk - 7485419.jpg|thumb|The flags of some of the Commonwealth '''realms''' (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK) line the Mall shortly before Coronation Day, 2023]]
Within three years following the end of the Second World War, [[Dominion of India|India]], [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] and [[Dominion of Ceylon|Ceylon]] became independent dominions within the Commonwealth. India would soon move to a republican form of government. Unlike in Ireland and Burma, there was no desire on the part of India to leave the Commonwealth, prompting a [[Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting|Commonwealth Conference]] and the [[London Declaration]] in April 1949, which entrenched the idea that republics be allowed in the Commonwealth so long as they recognised King George VI as [[Head of the Commonwealth]] and the "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations".<ref name=Smith>{{cite journal| last=de Smith| first=S. A.| authorlink=Stanley Alexander de Smith|date=July 1949| title=The London Declaration of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers, April 28, 1949| journal=The Modern Law Review| volume=12| issue=3| pages=351–354| jstor=1090506| doi=10.1111/j.1468-2230.1949.tb00131.x| doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Pakistan]] became a republic in 1956.

As these constitutional developments were taking place, the dominion and British governments became increasingly concerned with how to represent the more commonly accepted notion that there was no distinction between the sovereign's role in the United Kingdom and his or her position in any of the dominions. Thus, at the 1948 Prime Ministers' Conference the term ''dominion'' was avoided in favour of ''Commonwealth country'', to avoid the subordination implied by the older designation.<ref>{{cite book| last=Statistics New Zealand| title=New Zealand Official Yearbook 2000| publisher=David Bateman| location=Auckland| page=55}}</ref>