‘There go my footholds...' In March 1956, the cartoonist Behrendt gives his view of the decline of the former British colonial empire.

On 26 June 1957, the London weekly political magazine The New Statesman and Nation considers the nature of the United Kingdom’s relations with the countries of the Commonwealth and wonders about the future thereof.

On 31 July 1957, the German daily newspaper Deutsche Zeitung analyses the consequences for Europe in the throes of integration of the preferential relations between the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Map showing the development of the British Commonwealth from its creation to December 2015.

In London on 9 March 1961, British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan and Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, discuss the future of the Commonwealth.

‘Towards new shores’. In 1961, the emancipation of the Commonwealth countries and the end of the British Empire are conditions for the United Kingdom’s accession to the European Economic Community (EEC). On 28 October 1961, as the British Empire ‘sinks’, German cartoonist Manfred Oesterle emphasises the efforts of Ludwig Erhard, Federal Minister for the Economy, to rescue British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in a lifeboat and bring him aboard the ship ‘Europe’, while French President de Gaulle casually observes the rescue operation without offering to help. The French President is opposed to the United Kingdom’s application for accession, citing the incompatibility between the economic interests of the continent and the United Kingdom.

On 14 November 1961, British cartoonist David Low illustrates the difficult choice facing the United Kingdom: whether to remain faithful to the historical links uniting it to the Commonwealth countries or to start on the road to accession to the European Economic Community.

En juin 1967, le mensuel français Le Monde diplomatique analyse les liens entre le Royaume-Uni et le Commonwealth un mois après le dépôt, le 11 mai, de la seconde demande d'adhésion du Royaume-Uni aux Communautés européennes.

‘One shotgun wedding is enough, but two at once …’ The British cartoonist, Michael Cummings, portrays the dilemma facing the United Kingdom: remain faithful to the Commonwealth or join the European Economic Community.

On 14 February 1957, during a meeting in Bermuda between the American President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, the Belgian Conservative daily newspaper La Libre Belgique outlines the United Kingdom’s foreign policy.

In London, on 5 June 1961, US President, John F. Kennedy, and British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, discuss relations between their two countries, in anticipation of the United Kingdom's application for accession to the European Communities.