Can the Commonwealth survive the Queen's death - and should it? With King Charles III now at the helm of the British monarchy, many commonwealth realms are moving to remove the monarch as their head of state. #KingCharlesIII #Commonwealth #UnitedKingdom #skynews #Gravitas

"The origin of the Commonwealth goes back to the British Empire, which at one point covered a quarter of the world's land surface, and which subjugated millions of people for the benefit of relatively few. 

Over time, as people in many of the empire's dominions became increasingly self-reliant, there was a push for growing autonomy. The 1926 Balfour Declaration created the British Commonwealth, stating that all the dominions were designated autonomous communities. At the time, all the member countries had the UK's monarch as head of state. 

India, the empire's most populous dominion and considered the jewel in its crown, wanted to become a republic and, following partition from Pakistan, gained full independence in 1947, with its own head of state, as did Pakistan. 

In 1949, the London Declaration established a new form of relationship for the UK's former colonies, with the word "British" being removed from the Commonwealth's name and membership being based not on allegiance to the Crown but one in which member states would recognize the monarch as Head of the Commonwealth." 

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