The Imperial Conference of 1926 was the sixth in a series of increasingly formal meetings of the Prime Ministers of the Dominions of the British Empire, which usually took place in London. The 1926 Conference met shortly after the League of Nations’ General Assembly in 1926.

The most influential conclusion made at the 1926 Imperial Conference was the Balfour Formula or Balfour Declaration (this should not be confused with the 1917 Balfour Declaration which declared British support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine). Arthur Balfour, who had been Prime Minister from 1902-5, and Foreign Secretary from 1916-19, was in 1926 Lord President of the Council, and thus responsible for presiding over meetings of the Privy Council. At the Imperial Conference Balfour chaired the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee, who were appointed on the 25 October 1926 'to investigate all the questions on the Agenda affecting Inter-Imperial Relations.' This Committee was comprised of Prime Ministers and Heads of Delegations. The central conclusion that the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee drew was that the Dominions were, 'autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate to one another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations'. The statement was ratified by the Conference on 19 November 1926.

Notably, this was not a constitution for the British empire, for which some, including Jan Smuts of South Africa, had campaigned. Furthermore, while the report called for an equality of status of the Dominions, it did not suggest that their functions were anything but different. A tension existed between the self-governing Dominions of the British Commonwealth, whose status was addressed at the Imperial Conference, and the non-self-governing elements of the British empire. The unique status of India in terms of self-determination and continuing inclusion in the British empire in some ways set it apart from the Dominions discussed at the Conference. The Maharaja of Burdwan, the representative for India, gave a lengthy opening speech which addressed India’s loyalty to the British empire and her recent economic developments. The discussions were relevant, however, in terms of the continuing evolution of the British empire and Commonwealth. The Formula was enshrined in law only in 1931, under The Statute of Westminster.

On 14 August 1947, Pakistan was made an independent country, and on 15 August 1947 India was made independent as the British transferred their power over at midnight. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who had trained as a barrister in London and lived in London again in the 1930s, was sworn in as Governor-General of Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India who had overseen this transfer of power, became Governor-General of India for the interim. Jawaharlal Nehru, who had studied at Harrow School, Cambridge, and as a barrister in London, took up the position of Prime Minister of India.

Independence was celebrated in Britain by South Asians. At 11am on 15 August 1947, Indians gathered at India House in Aldwych to salute the flag. Pakistanis gathered in celebration at Lancaster House. In the afternoon, the Indian Conciliation Group held a celebration at Friends House in London where High Commissioners for India and Pakistan were present. They were both new in that position from 15 August: Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoolah for Pakistan, and V. K. Krishna Menon for India. A celebration was also held at the International Club in Croydon for students where the Dean of Canterbury blessed the Indian and Pakistani flags.

Despite the celebrations in London, the partition of the Indian sub-continent was not a peaceful process. With the migration of millions of refugees across the borders in Bengal and Punjab, rioting continued in India and Pakistan for many months with cases of horrific violence. The estimates of people killed vary, but there were probably over a million killed.