Queen Elizabeth's 15 Countries: The Commonwealth Realms

Did you know Elizabeth II isn't just the Queen of England and the larger UK, but of 14 other independent countries? If that statement just raises more questions for you, read on for all the answers...

Map of the Commonwealth realms (independent countries that share the monarchy with Britain). Click to enlarge. Contact us for permission to use this map.

 

This article, originally from 2012, has been revised and updated for the abolition of Barbados's monarchy in November 2021, which reduced the number of countries Queen Elizabeth II reigns over from 16 to 15.

Which countries does Queen Elizabeth reign over?

You might be surprised to learn that Queen Elizabeth II is the official queen of 15 different independent countries. Those countries are together known as the "Commonwealth realms" - a smaller subset of the Commonwealth of Nations, which also includes many queenless republics. Every one of the 15 Commonwealth realms is considered a fully-fledged independent country and a member of the UN, despite sharing the same monarch. 

Here's a list of all the Commonwealth realms that exist today, in order of when they became independent:

Personal flag of Queen Elizabeth II, which can be used for her in any country (source; CC BY-SA)

 United Kingdom (UK)
 Canada
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Jamaica
 The Bahamas
 Grenada
 Papua New Guinea
 Solomon Islands
 Tuvalu
 Saint Lucia
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 Belize
 Antigua and Barbuda
 Saint Kitts and Nevis

Just as the sun never sets in the British Empire, the monarchy never set in the realms - each one inherits the queen's role from its time as a former British colony (with the exception of northern Papua New Guinea, which passed directly from German to Australian control before uniting with the formerly British-held south in independence).

How can countries share the same monarch and still be independent?

Basically, each of these countries has separately and independently designated Queen Elizabeth's royal line as their own monarchs. But the UK's actual modern-day government, the British Parliament, has no authority at all over the other realms. In a certain legal sense, these 15 countries just happen to have chosen the same family to form their monarchy.

To show their independence, each realm even calls the queen by its own national title - she's not just the Queen of the UK, but also the Queen of Australia, the Queen of Canada, the Queen of the Bahamas, etc. As for the queen's perspective, she's officially said to be to be "equally at home in all of her realms". But of course she has only has one physical body, and it turns out she still spends most of her time in the original realm: the UK. 

Outside the UK, the queen is represented in each country by an appointed official called a "governor-general". Some supporters of the arrangement actually consider this to be a benefit: If their capital is invaded or disaster strikes, there's no safer place for their queen to be than far away in another country.

But if they're all controlled by the same person, isn't that like being one country?

Flag of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada (source). See all flags of Elizabeth II.

Not for practical purposes. Unlike in medieval personal unions, where a single monarch had direct control over two or more countries, the queen has next to no governing power in her modern realms. 

There are certain decision-making powers ceremonially assigned to the queen, but for the most part she can only exercise them with the support of each country's elected government. 

UK-style constitutional monarchies require the royal family to stay out of political debates, so the queen serves mainly as a nonpartisan symbol of the country that everyone (theoretically) can get behind.

Still, this must create some awkward situations, right?

Some people definitely think so. Since the queen largely acts only on the "advice" of her countries' elected governments - and normally through her governor-general, who may or may not actually consult with her personally - she technically is considered to take both sides whenever two realms disagree. 

She's also been accused of engaging in trade competition with herself, and can be simultaneously neutral and at war when one realm is involved in an international conflict and others aren't. In extreme cases, the monarch of the Commonwealth realms might even be at war against themself - this was, theoretically, the case for King George VI during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, though it's hard to find sources confirming whether anyone described it that way at the time.

Fifteen Countries - Is That All?

Although the independent realms total just 15, the number of "countries" with Elizabeth II as their queen actually increases to 18 if you include the four "countries within a country" that make up the UK: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. But that's not all - as if 15 realms weren't enough for one person, she also reigns over three Crown Dependencies (Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands, plus the Isle of Man) and the 14 British Overseas Territories, all of which are dependent on the UK, but aren't considered part of the kingdom itself. 

Commonwealth realm New Zealand also has a dependent territory of its own, Tokelau, that isn't usually considered part of the country proper. And interestingly, the queen's Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, two almost-independent countries that might remain part of the realm even if New Zealand itself were to fire the queen.

As the Queen of Australia, Queen Elizabeth also reigns over several Australian "external territories", that are in a bit of a gray area as far as whether they're technically part of that country. Farther south, there's some disagreement over whether the New Zealand-administered Ross Dependency claim in Antarctica is part of the Realm of New Zealand, or whether it's technically a separate territory subject to the Queen of the UK.

Former Commonwealth Realms

Entire reign of Queen Elizabeth II (1952-2021). Current in red, former in blue (dark = sovereign realm; light = territory or dependency). Click to enlarge. Excludes Antarctic claims.

Historically speaking, there are about 20 more independent countries that used to be Commonwealth realms, but have since abandoned the monarchy to become republics. Most recently, Barbados abolished its monarchy in November 2021. 

Still, the current roster of realms is longer than it used to be - at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1952, there were only seven realms: the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). By that time, the former realms of Ireland and India had already abolished the monarchy from their constitutions, and the rest of today's realms were still part of the British Empire.

Learn More: The Commonwealth includes a lot more than just the realms - so what is it, exactly?