The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as the Commonwealth and formerly as the British Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, all of which are former possessions of the British Empire, except for Mozambique and the United Kingdom itself.
The Commonwealth is an international organization through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds cooperate within a framework of common values and goals, outlined in the Singapore Declaration. These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth, recognized by each state, and as such is the symbol of the free association of the organization's members. This position, however, does not imply political power over Commonwealth member states. In practice, the Queen heads the Commonwealth in a symbolic capacity, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the chief executive of the organization. The Commonwealth is not a political union, and does not allow the United Kingdom to exercise any power over the affairs of the organization's other members.
Elizabeth II is also the Head of State, separately, of sixteen members of the Commonwealth, called Commonwealth Realms. As each Realm is an independent kingdom, Elizabeth II, as monarch, holds a distinct title for each, though, by a Prime Ministers' Conference in 1952, all include the words "Head of the Commonwealth" at the end; for example: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Jamaica and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. Beyond the Realms, the majority of the members of the Commonwealth have their own, separate Heads of State: thirty-two members are Commonwealth republics and five members have their own monarchs (Brunei, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland, and Tonga).
Every four years the Commonwealth's members celebrate the Commonwealth Games, the world's second-largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.