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Only in the last few years  have major memorials to  the wartime sacrifices of  the British Dominions and Colonies taken their place in the ceremonial plots of central London. They are a welcome if belated tribute. Yet, following the second world war’s end, the government made a more practical gesture. The 1948 British Nationality Act confirmed that passports would be granted not only to all Commonwealth peoples regardless of creed or colour but even to those in India, Pakistan and beyond who opted no longer to be the King’s subjects. It was a generous offer. Only the great take-up rate from so many of non-British stock led to its eventually curtailment.

The closest modern equivalent is the legal entitlement to common citizenship of the European Union. Yet few today feel the tug of sentiment so keenly that they would gladly take up arms in the name of José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, as they once did for George VI, Rex Imperator.