Problems have already started between the family members
The Royal Family has started to fight. The Queen has just passed away and problems have already started between the family members
When Queen Elizabeth was 25, the British Empire was only beginning to decline.
Now that she’s dead, the monarchy’s control is less extensive and her subjects’ allegiance is more voluntary, but it’s still global. Queen Elizabeth presided over 2.5 billion people from Canada to Australia, Jamaica to Ghana, Pakistan to Fiji upon her death.
As her septuagenarian son King Charles III takes over, the kingdom’s future looks bleak.
The House of Windsor’s former colonies are now the Commonwealth, a group of 56 governments that periodically receive aid from Britain. Many are restless, and their governments’ devotion and respect for Elizabeth will be tested by a new, more political queen.
“They didn’t want to insult her,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in the UK. “Countries kept her as head of state longer than they would have because of her personal allegiance.”
Australia has been republican for decades. Although a 1999 vote to replace the monarchy with a president failed, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese designated the country’s first minister to supervise the transition to a republic.
Republicans in Australia are ready for a referendum rematch now that the queen has been replaced by King Charles III. Albanese stated in his election campaign this year that he wouldn’t call a referendum on a republic until his second term, putting a vote four to five years away.
Before that, Aussies will vote on the “voice to parliament” – a body to be incorporated in the constitution that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to advise the parliament and government.
In neighboring New Zealand, a recent poll revealed that most favor preserving connections to the monarchy after the queen’s death, however Prime Minister Jacinda Arden recognized that New Zealand will likely become a republic “in my lifetime.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the queen “one of my favorite people in the world” yet his country doesn’t like her son. Only 34% of respondents to a 2021 Angus Reid Institute poll supported King Charles remaining head of state.
It’s just a matter of when the Republican trend will change. Barbados became a republic in 2021, and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness stated this year that his country would also pursue independence.
The queen’s mourning period and universal devotion will halt cord-cutting operations.
Citizens for a Canadian Republic national director Tom Freda declined to comment on next measures until after the queen’s official burial in just over a week.
The group did note that the queen was “on record as expressing sympathy” for republican beliefs. New Zealand Republic expressed “condolences” for the royal family and declined to comment until after the funeral.
King Charles will soon have to consolidate his power and win the devotion his mother won over 70 years. Positive signals exist.
South Sudan and Suriname, both former British territories, are on the Commonwealth waitlist. To join the voluntary association, you must recognise the king as its ceremonial head.
Member governments subsidize the group’s operations and initiatives around the world; the UK contributed £5 million in 2020.
“The Commonwealth is a group of like-minded nations,” Braw added. The only material reward is competing in the Commonwealth Games.
In 1953, the queen pledged to commit her “heart and soul” to the Commonwealth.
Sue Onslow, head of the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies, remarked, “You can’t overstate the Queen’s importance to the Commonwealth.” She’s the organization’s devoted champion.
Patricia Scotland, secretary general of the Commonwealth, praised the queen on Thursday, noting that she missed only one annual meeting between 1971 and 2018.
“Her devotion, intelligence, and leadership are a credit to our modern Commonwealth,” Scotland remarked.
King Charles’s succession as Commonwealth ceremonial leader was not automatic. Commonwealth leaders recognized him as successor in 2018, after the queen’s “sincere wish”
Charles may have better success managing the Commonwealth than fending off republican forces, however he faces pressure to handle the slave trade legacy in many former territories.
In a speech at the most recent Commonwealth summit in Rwanda, the king said it was “time” to acknowledge the impact of slavery but stopped short of apologizing.
Onslow: “He argues this needs an open and honest conversation now.” These are key issues in Commonwealth countries, especially the Caribbean.
On other Commonwealth topics, the monarch has been an outspoken promoter, especially environmental sustainability, a subject he’s been enthusiastic about for nearly 50 years. As king, he may tone down his rhetoric to follow the queen’s lead.
Onslow: “Charles will be a royal diplomat.” Time will tell if his far-flung dominions are ready for a new king.
