It was founded within 1868 as the Colonial Society, late a Royal Colonial Society, to promote investigatiin & discussion on Compound cases typically, in the style of the learned society. Amongst its innovation members were a first British Prime Minster Lord Salisbury, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, George Goschen, and Thomas Baring, the prominent banker. It was renamed a Royal Empire Society within 1928, to reflect the ever-changing nature and severity of the British overseas territories, before ingesting inside its todays title, in 1958.

Its headquarters come at a Commonwealth Club, in Northumberland Avenue, London. Baroness Prashar is the Society's current chair.