Legacy of the British Empire — Union Jack, Commonwealth, Colonies - MMM

Switch tabs to see Union Jack flags / Commonwealth members / former British Empire territories.

Countries with the Union Jack — 5

UK, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tuvalu.

Commonwealth of Nations — 56 countries

Not countries that recognize the British monarch — it's a voluntary international organization. Some members were never British colonies:

Mozambique (1995) — Portuguese colony, first non-British member ever
Rwanda (2009) — Belgian colony
Gabon, Togo (2022) — French colonies

Countries that left and returned

Country	Left	Reason	Returned
South Africa	1961	Apartheid	1994
Pakistan	1972	Protested Bangladesh recognition	1989
The Gambia	2013	Called it "neocolonial"	2018
Maldives	2016	Governance pressure	2020

Zimbabwe withdrew in 2003 and hasn't returned. Ireland left in 1949 permanently.

Commonwealth Realms — 15 countries

Commonwealth members where Charles III is the actual head of state, represented by a Governor-General.

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

Barbados became the most recent country to transition from realm to republic in 2021
Jamaica is also pursuing a transition to a republic

Former British Empire — ~69 countries

At its peak, the British Empire ruled about a quarter of the world's land, with lasting consequences for colonized peoples.

Surprising facts

USA — The first country to gain independence from Britain (1776). The original 13 colonies
Egypt — Officially Ottoman territory, but Britain held de facto control from 1882 to 1952
Iraq, Jordan, Palestine (now Israel/Palestine) — British Mandate territories after WWI
Ireland — Was not a colony but part of the UK itself (separated in 1922)
Vanuatu — Joint British-French condominium. The only place that belonged to two empires at once