The idea of observing one day each year as a public holiday throughout the British Empire was first suggested in 1894 and 1895 by Thomas Robinson, the Royal Colonial Institute's honorary secretary at Winnipeg in Canada.

Taking up Robinson's suggestion, the Royal Colonial Institute's London council addressed a petition to the Queen Victoria in July 1894 declaring that, whereas other nations had annual days for national celebration, the British Empire had no such day, and proposing that the Queen's birthday should be set aside for the purpose.

[1][2] By the end of the 19th century, Empire Day was also celebrated in Cape Colony before the Second Boer War and thereafter throughout the Union of South Africa.

[6] After the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901, her birthday, 24 May, was celebrated from 1902 as Empire Day, though not officially recognised as an annual event until 1916.

In schools, morning lessons were devoted to "exercises calculated to remind (the children) of their mighty heritage".

The overt politicization of Empire Day severely disrupted its hegemonic function and the political battles fought over the form and purpose of the celebrations made it difficult to uphold the notion that the festival was merely a benign tribute to a legitimate and natural state of affairs.After World War II, the event fell into rapid decline.

The proposal was included in the Canadian items for inclusion in the agenda for the 1975 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

[13] Several cities throughout the Commonwealth host multi-cultural and inter-denominational services to mark the day.

[13] The flag of the United Kingdom is flown from UK public buildings on the second Monday in March to mark Commonwealth Day.

During the service, representatives of Commonwealth countries offer the flags of member states for blessing.

The day was observed as a school holiday in British Hong Kong before the handover of the territory from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.

[30][31][32] The Commonwealth Day Council of New South Wales holds an annual lunch in the presence of its patron, the governor, at Parliament House, Sydney.

[33][34] In The Bahamas, Commonwealth Day school assemblies involving flag-raising ceremonies are held.