Each year on 3 May, Poles celebrate the anniversary of the constitution acclaimed by the Polish-Lithuanian parliament on 3 May 1791. It blended the principles of national sovereignty and the triune division of powers, and included all inhabitants of the Commonwealth within the scope of the Polish nation (citizenship was previously restricted to nobles). This act is often regarded as the first modern written constitution in Europe and the second in the world (coming before the French constitution, of September 1791, but after the American, ratified in 1787-89).
After the loss of statehood in 1795, the Third of May symbolized the nation's aspiration to independence. After the Second World War, Poles in exile continued to mark the occasion when it was ignored by Poland's communist dictatorship, so celebrations in "Polish London" still have special meaning. On 3 May 2018, an exhibition at the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) on "The British and Poland in the Later Eighteenth Century" was opened by H.E. the Polish Ambassador to the UK, Professor Arkady RZEGOCKI.
This was followed by a lecture delivered by Professor Richard BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, Chairholder of the European Civilization Chair at Natolin, on "Konstytucja 3 Maja po angielsku" [The Constitution of 3 May in English]. This focused particularly on the swiftly published translation of the constitution into English by the Polish envoy in London, Mr Franciszek BUKATY. The image of Poland in Britain changed diametrically during 1791. Stereotypes about the anarchy of Polish nobles gave way to warm appreciations of the merits of the Polish constitution and the mildness of the "Polish revolution". These were sometimes, as in the case of Edmund BURKE, contrasted with the violent and radical revolution in France.