Commonwealth Day

King George VI delivering a radio broadcast to the British Empire on Empire Day 1939, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The idea of observing one day in each year as a public holiday throughout the empire was first suggested to the council in 1894 and 1895 by Thomas Robinson, the Royal Colonial Institute's honorary secretary at Winnipeg in Canada. Taking up Robinson's suggestion, the Royal Colonial institute's London council addressed a petition to the Queen in July 1894 declaring that, whereas other nations had annual days for national celebration, the British empire had no such day, and proposing that the Queen's birthday should be set aside for the purpose. In a reply the prime minister, Lord Rosebery, stated that it was a matter not for the government but for the community and pointed out that government departments already kept the Queen's birthday as a holiday. The idea was gaining support in Canada, however, and on the initiative of Clementina Trenholme in 1898, who introduced an Empire Day to Ontario schools, on the last school day before 24 May, Queen Victoria's birthday.[7][8] The idea of a day that would "remind children that they formed part of the British Empire" was conceived in 1897.[9] Empire Day or Victoria Day was celebrated in the Cape Colony before the Second Boer War and thereafter throughout the Union of South Africa.[10]

Empire Day was introduced in the UK in 1904 by Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath, 'to nurture a sense of collective identity and imperial responsibility among young empire citizens'.[11] In schools, morning lessons were devoted to "exercises calculated to remind (the children) of their mighty heritage".[12] The centrepiece of the day was an organised and ritualistic veneration of the Union flag. Then, schoolchildren were given the afternoon off, and further events were usually held in their local community. Empire Day became more of a sombre commemoration in the aftermath of World War I, and politically partisan as the Labour Party passed a resolution in 1926 to prevent the further celebration of Empire Day.[13]

A British Empire flag containing the symbols of its constituent dominions and India. Many were distributed at the British Empire Exhibition to promote imperial unity.

After the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901, her birthday, 24 May, was celebrated from 1902 as Empire Day, though not officially recognised as an annual event until 1916.[9][14] In 1925, 90,000 people attended an Empire Day thanksgiving service held at Wembley Stadium as part of the British Empire Exhibition.[15] The British Empire League promoted Empire Day as a patriotic holiday.[16] Empire Day traversed class boundaries, and after the First World War, the jingoism was toned down in favour of sombre commemoration in the festival.[13]

"The Conservative party and other groups adopted Empire Day as a vehicle for anti-socialist propaganda, whilst the communist party exploited it as an opportunity to attack British imperialism. Other protests came from local Labour groups and pacifist dissenters. The overt politicization of Empire Day severely disrupted its hegemonic function and the political battles fought over the form and purpose of the celebrations made it difficult to uphold the notion that the festival was merely a benign tribute to a legitimate and natural state of affairs."[13]

After World War II, the event fell into rapid decline, and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan bowed to the inevitable on 18 December 1958, when he announced in Parliament that the name of Empire Day would be changed forthwith to Commonwealth Day.[13][17]

In 1973, the National Council in Canada of the Royal Commonwealth Society submitted a proposal to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau that Commonwealth Day should be observed simultaneously throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. The proposal was included in the Canadian items for inclusion in the agenda for the 1975 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. After the meeting, it was agreed that the Commonwealth Secretariat would select a date with no historical connotations so that the entire Commonwealth could use it as a date to celebrate Commonwealth Day. At a meeting in Canberra in May 1976, senior Commonwealth officials agreed on a new fixed date for Commonwealth Day, the second Monday in March.[18]

There is not a uniform observance of the day worldwide.[18]

United Kingdom

Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, speaking at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day 2020

The Union Flag is flown from UK public buildings on the second Monday in March to mark Commonwealth Day.[19] In addition, the Scottish Parliament Building flies the Commonwealth flag.[20] The King and other members of the Royal family attend a special inter-denominational service at Westminster Abbey, followed by a reception hosted by the Commonwealth Secretary-General.[21] A wreath is laid at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates in London to remember the sacrifices of Commonwealth soldiers by the Commonwealth Secretary General.[22] A number of other events, such as the Commonwealth Africa Summit, also take place around the United Kingdom.[23]

Canada

Royal Union Flags flown alongside the flag of Canada in Ottawa on Commonwealth Day 2022

In Canada, the only official recognition of Commonwealth Day is a federal government stipulation that the Royal Union Flag be flown alongside Canada's flag at government installations nationwide, "where physical arrangements allow... Physical arrangements means the existence of at least two flag poles".[27] The 1964 parliamentary resolutions creating the Maple Leaf flag also retained the Union Flag as an official symbol of Canada's membership in the Commonwealth, and allegiance to the Crown.[27][28]

From 1898 to 1976, Empire Day/Commonwealth Day was observed on an ad hoc basis in conjunction with Victoria Day, a federal statutory holiday in May that also serves as the sovereign's official birthday in Canada.[18][29] Empire Day/Commonwealth Day was held on the weekday before Victoria Day and was not intended to be a general holiday in itself, but a day to provide schools and civic institutions the opportunity to implement activities and lessons on Canada and the British Empire.[29] In 1977, Commonwealth Day was moved to the second Monday in March, in line with the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations.[18]

Other Commonwealth countries

Commonwealth Day parade in Belize, 2019

In Tuvalu it is an annual public holiday. In The Bahamas, Commonwealth Day is marked in schools with special programmes and assemblies involving flag-raising ceremonies; the King's Commonwealth Day message is often read at such events.[30]

Special programmes were also held in Belize,[30] where Commonwealth Day is also known as Sovereign's Day, and as a date to commemorate the Commonwealth organisation of "sovereign states". Sovereign's Day was celebrated as a public holiday on 24 May in Belize until 2021, when it was removed from the government's official list of public and bank holidays.[31]

• Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria
• Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan
• Empire Air Day
• Royal Commonwealth Society
• Territorial evolution of the British Empire