After 1931 , when the Commonwealth of Nations came into being and the former Dominions of the British Empire became independent states , equal in status to the UK , the Order of Merit remained an honor open to all the King 's realms ; thus , as with the monarch who conferred it , the order ceased to be purely British . After 1931 , when the Statute of Westminster came into being and the Dominions of the British Empire became independent states , equal in status to the UK , the Order of Merit remained an honor open to all the King 's realms ; thus , as with the monarch who conferred it , the order ceased to be purely British .