The Imperial Institute Trust was created on 12 May 1888 by Royal Charter following the successful fundraising arranged by the then Prince of Wales in collaboration with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, in celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It is the Imperial Institute building, which stood on Exhibition Road, London, which is the subject of this silver model. The original building was demolished in 1958, so this model is the best representation of what this exceptional structure looked like.  It was in 1958 too that the Imperial Institute became the Commonwealth Institute.

This model was presented to the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) by the Corporation of London, on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary in 1888, to recognise their contribution to the fundraising for the Imperial Institute, the foundation stone for which had been laid in 1887 by Queen Victoria. On the official opening of the Imperial Institute in 1893 the Prince of Wales inserted a key into the model which activated a peal of bells from its tower to mark the climax of proceedings.