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Commonwealth Governor Generals

A short history and photographs of the Commonwealth Governors-Generals.

Each of the Governors-General has a personal flag, all except two featuring a lion passant on top of a royal crown, with the name of the country written in capitals on a scroll underneath. The only two different are that of the Governor General of Canada (lion is not on a crown, but wearing one, and bears a maple leaf in one paw; the scroll is also absent from the Canadian design) and of the Governor General of New Zealand (featuring a royal crown on top of the coat of arms of New Zealand). This Standard was replaced on the 17th June 2024 with a sheild on a azure blue background containing motifs relating to New Zealands history.

King-Emporor George V with his prime ministers at the Imperial Conference of 1926.
Back row, left to right: Walter Stanley Monroe , Prime Minister of Newfoundland ; Gordon Coates , Prime Minister of New Zealand ; Stanley Bruce , Prime Minister of Australia ; James Hertzog , Prime Minister of South Africa , and W.T. Cosgrave , President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State . Front row, left to right: Stanley Baldwin , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ; the King; and William Lyon Mackenzie King , Prime Minister of Canada .

Governor General and Viceroy of India Earl Mountbatten overseeing the transfer of power , creating India as a Commonwealth realm, August 15, 1947.

The Queen inherits to the Throne, The Three Queens await the Arrival of King-Emperor George V1s body to lie in State at Westminster Hall. Left to right- Queen Elizabeth , Queen-Empress Mary (consort to George V), Queen-Empress Elizabeth -The Queen Mother (consort to George V1)

The Queens Coronation June 2nd 1953

Official Coronation Portrait by Cecil Beaton

The newly Crowned Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh

Following the coronation, the Queen took up her formal role of welcoming leaders to Buckingham Palace, including this group of Commonwealth leaders with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A momentous two years in British history concluded with the newly crowned Queen's first formal Christmas broadcast to the nation and commonwealth on the BBC.