Representatives of the United Kingdom, the four co-belligerent Commonwealth Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa), the eight governments in exile (Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia) and Free France were parties to the declaration.

It stated the Allies' commitment to continue the war against the Axis Powers (Germany and Italy) and established principles to serve as the basis of a future peace.

After the Battle of France, the exiled governments of Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg established themselves in London and began to work with the British to coordinate resistance activities and carry on the fight.

By 1941, the Czech National Liberation Committee under Edvard Beneš also won recognition as the Provisional Czechoslovak Government as it cooperated ever closer with Britain.

In September, a second Inter-Allied meeting, which now included Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky following the Anglo-Soviet Agreement, issued a resolution endorsing the Charter.