25 Rupees Foundation of the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of Nations had little obvious relevance to the Seychelles' founding moment — the islands were a British crown colony until 1976, and membership followed independence almost automatically. The 1996 issue marks the organization's 50th anniversary, dated from the 1949 London Declaration that transformed the British Commonwealth into its modern, republic-inclusive form. That declaration was itself a pragmatic fix for India's impending republican status, which would otherwise have forced its expulsion under older membership rules.