The world once knew a phenomenon called the British Empire: it existed, it was real. As the imperial ties with mother Westminster loosened, and colonies became self-governing dominions, straining toward (and eventually attaining) independence, the British Commonwealth was born. It, too, was real and existed, although (such is the British tradition) it was riddled with anomalies. For instance, sterling reigned almost everywhere, but not in Canada, which was tied to the (then) almighty dollar.
Still, the British Commonwealth did mean something. The French Canadians might insist on speaking a foreign lingo, and the Boers preferred their corruption of Dutch to Shakespeare’s tongue; but broadly speaking, the prevailing color was white, and the prevailing speech was English. And broadly speaking, we all loved or love-hated one another and it would never have occurred to Commonwealth countries not to fight alongside the British when a world war came along (even though many Boers had other ideas, second time round). Moreover, until the great waves of Third World independence in the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties, the Commonwealth countries were monarchical, parliamentary democracies.
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