Commonwealth of Nations

[McClef]

Okay gonna stick my neck out on this one, as I don't have any history books at hand; but as I recall ...
the idea of "Great Britain" and the Union flag arose out of the ascension of James I and VI to the throne of England; and the subsequent great excitement (especially in Whitehall) with the idea of a united monarchy over all of the British Isles.

...but I'm sure someone else will correct me on that.

The Union of the Crowns (1603) was a personal thing in terms of the person of the Monarch as the two countries remained totally independent with their own Parliaments for just over 100 years. In Scotland James remained purely known as James VI and in England purely as James I as England had never previously had a King named James.

The Union of the Parliaments, which led to the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament and the transfer of its powers to London took place in 1707 under Queen Anne, James' Great Granddaughter. As there had been no previous Anne in either kingdom the numbering was not needed and indeed will not be unless we end up with a second Queen Anne at some stage.

The reasons for 1707 are open to some debate but it was then that the Saltire was added to the flag. Scotland was sometimes referred to as "North Britain" from that time also.

Even in 1603 though James became not only King of England but also of Wales and Ireland which came with the English throne as well.

The first Commonwealth came under Oliver Cromwell as an attempt to replace the Monarchy but it failed miserably and the Scots were the first to proclaim Charles II only a few days after his father's execution and indeed they crowned him at Scone on January 1st 1651.

Ireland kept its own Parliament until 1801 when they also were merged into the Westminster one.

Hope this displays the difference between the two events a little more.