... that all of the Commonwealth member states, except for Mozambique, have experienced direct or indirect British rule, or have been linked administratively to another Commonwealth country? At the 1997 summit in Edinburgh, heads of government considered the criteria for Commonwealth membership and agreed that to become a member of the Commonwealth, an applicant country should, as a rule, have had a constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth member state; that it should comply with Commonwealth values, principles and priorities as set out in the Harare Declaration; and that it should accept Commonwealth norms and conventions.

...that it was only in 1994 that every adult in South Africa was allowed to vote? People were so eager to vote that they queued for hours at the polling stations. The Commonwealth played a major part in bringing democracy to South Africa.

...that at the Imperial Conference in 1926, the UK and its dominions agreed they are "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations"? Regular Prime Ministers' meetings become the forerunners of today's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.