Commonwealth Day (Tuvalu)

Commonwealth Day is a public holiday in Tuvalu, observed on the second Monday of March each year. The holiday commemorates the birthday of Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901.

Tuvalu, previously known as the Ellice Islands, is an island country in the Pacific Ocean. People began to inhabit the islands about 3000 years ago, a long time before the arrival of Europeans.

Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña became the first European sighting of the archipelago in 1568. Tuvalu became a British protectorate in 1892 and then part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1975. On October 1, 1978, Tuvalu gained its independence as a sovereign state within the Commonwealth realm.

After Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, people began celebrating her birthday, May 24, as Empire Day in the British Empire from 1902. Tuvalu had been a British colony since 1916, so Empire Day was also a public holiday in 1916.

In 1958, Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day by the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan. The celebration day was also changed to the second Monday in March in most Commonwealth countries in 1973.

The following is the list of Commonwealth Day in Tuvalu from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in Tuvalu: