The Solomon Islands is today one of 15 countries in this category, keeping the British monarch as head of state after gaining independence in 1978. South Africa also held this status from 1931 until it became a republic in 1961. Which political category, formalised at the 1949 London Declaration, is this?

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Accepted Answer

Commonwealth realm. A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state that shares the British monarch as its head of state; there are currently 15, including the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands. South Africa left the arrangement in 1961 when a whites-only referendum voted to become a republic.