Royal Commonwealth Society
| Abbreviation | RCS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1868 |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Advocate and public voice, educator and network. |
| Headquarters | Commonwealth Club, London |
|
Region served
|
Commonwealth of Nations |
|
Official language
|
English |
| Website | thercs |
The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) (originally named the Colonial Society, later re-christened as the Royal Colonial Society, the Royal Colonial Institute and lastly as the Royal Empire Society) is an international educational charity and a private members' club. Its mission is to support and promote the modern Commonwealth, its culture and core values. The Society acts as a forum for the exchange of ideas and, through its broad-ranging public affairs programme, offers a forum for the debate, research and development of Commonwealth thinking on key international issues.
Through its educational, youth and outreach programmes, the Royal Commonwealth Society seeks to encourage young people to develop their skills and, with an increased understanding of their role as global citizens, to engage with challenges facing the international community. It aims to bring alive the fundamental principles of the modern Commonwealth-–tolerance, diversity, freedom, justice, democracy, human rights and sustainable development-–to a generation living in an increasingly interconnected world. RCS projects seek to enable young people to engage with their counterparts across the Commonwealth in youth leadership programmes, creative writing and film-making projects. Through its range of charitable programmes and through its international network of members, honorary representatives and affiliated branches and societies, the Society's remit is to work towards the continued growth and resilience of Commonwealth civil society.
It was announced in February 2013 that the Commonwealth Club would close in June 2013.
The Royal Commonwealth Society was born of the British Empire and after the Empire declined the Society developed into an organisation dedicated to the Commonwealth of Nations.
On Friday 26 June 1868, at a meeting in the Willis Rooms, King Street, St. James's, it was agreed that a society with a London headquarters should be formed which would take an interest in colonial and Indian affairs. The elected chairman of the Society, Viscount Bury, declared that the intention was “to provide a meeting place for gentlemen interested in colonial and Indian affairs; to establish a reading room and a library, in which recent and authentic intelligence upon colonial subjects may be constantly available, and a museum for the collection and exhibition of colonial productions; to afford opportunities for reading papers, and for holding discussions upon colonial subjects generally”. The Colonial Society’s first home was above a shirt shop at No. 15 The Strand, where it remained from 1870 until 1885. It was in this modest space that the organisation’s library collection first began to be assembled.
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