CORONATION SHOWED GLOBAL APPEAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH ‘CLUB’

A HARDLY touched-upon aspect of the Coronation week was the show-up of every head of state and government in the Commonwealth. It is quite a phenomenon.

Other European powers had empires but none converted after independence into a globally-spread club of nations. The late Queen was devoted to it – and vice-versa.

Varying from the huge Canada and Australia to microscopic islands, it forms a club with enormous soft-power influence over all five continents.

But there are rules. Dictatorships are not allowed.We never left a dictatorship behind but some have converted and were expelled. Burma, Aden and Zimbabwe are out and probably permanently. Nigeria, Pakistan and Fiji lapsed into tyranny for a while, left, restored democracy and were readmitted.

Even more bizarrely, four countries that were colonies of other countries yearned to join and were admitted. Thus today Rwanda (Belgian), Mozambique (Portuguese) and Gabon and Togo (French) have contentedly been allowed to join.

Today it has 56 members – 15 still British Dependent Territories with King Charles as head of state, five with their own monarch and 36 republics. If, as rumoured, two or three of the dependents want to establish themselves as republics with presidents as head of state, that would change nothing – so long as they stay democracies.

It is highly fashionable to slag off the Empire as one vast tyranny.

If that were so, how does one explain that every former dominion and colony within it clamoured to join its successor, the Commonwealth, and others lusted to join as well?

Sorry, wokists, but your country does actually get some things right.