‘Why do we have a queen?’ Complex reactions in the Commonwealth.

The island nation of Barbados permanently retired the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, the flag of British royalty, less than a year ago, when it dropped the queen as its head of state and declared itself a republic.

That didn’t stop Barbados from lowering its largest flag – an ultramarine, yellow, and black banner that flies at Garrison Savannah – to half mast over the weekend to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley shared her sympathies in a book placed out at the British High Commission office for citizens to share their sympathies.

But social worker Roshanna Trim won’t be signing her condolences.

Although she sympathizes with the queen’s family and those who mourn her loss on a human level, Ms. Trim says that as a Black, Caribbean woman, her sympathies are overshadowed by her country’s quest for justice after centuries of slavery and exploitation.

“British postcolonial territories are still dealing with the socioeconomic impact of our shared past,” says Ms. Trim, steps from the historic Parliament building in the capital, Bridgetown, where life has continued largely uninterrupted. “We are yet to see any true commitment to reparatory justice. We are yet to see attempts to compensate for the human rights injustices of the colonial era.”

Queen Elizabeth was seen by many as the architect and greatest defender of the postcolonial Commonwealth, composed mostly of former colonies. But throughout its 56 member states, including 15 realms that recognize the British monarch as their head of state, others are questioning whether such anti-colonial sentiment will grow, and if the search for fairness will ultimately shake its bonds with the royal institution.

For all the antipathy toward the monarchy, the figurehead of the queen has helped blunt the deepest criticism, scandals, and political turmoil for 70 years. And her death comes at a time of global realignment, sovereignty movements, and the formation of regional blocs that provide more relevance for many developing countries today, argues William Gumede, executive chairperson of the Democracy Works Foundation in South Africa. 

“She was a very important figure of glue that held the Commonwealth together in the last couple of years because there’s been such dramatic changes in the world,” he says. “And what we are going to see now really is a kind of release of all these kinds of sentiments.”

“Why do we have a queen from England?”

Already this weekend the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced plans for the Commonwealth realm to hold a referendum on becoming a republic in the next three years.

During a visit this March to Jamaica by Prince William and his wife, Kate, the Jamaican government announced it would explore ditching the monarchy as well while demands for reparations and an apology for slavery have grown.

Much of the new movement predates the queen’s death, part of the passage of time, demographics, and the political moment. Jamie Bradley is the Atlantic director of Citizens for a Canadian Republic. But he grew up in Halifax in what he calls a “monarchy family,” where the world wars were close to his parents’ hearts.

“We had the queen’s picture up there and still have a plate of her coronation that my mother bought somewhere,” he says. “But I was 6 years old during the centennial and that had a huge impact on me. Everything was Canada, Canada, Canada. And then my little brain started going, ‘Then why do we have a queen from England?’”

Mr. Bradley says younger generations feel even more disconnected. In immigrant societies like Canada, many newcomers feel no historic attachment to the Crown. And in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and Indigenous rights, anti-colonial movements are seen as a central civil rights platform. With the ascendance of King Charles III, many see an opportunity to reset relationships.

First Nations groups in British Columbia called on the new king to reject the Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th-century Catholic doctrine also used by Britain to claim land in North America. “With a change in Canada’s head of state, it’s time for a change in the Crown’s approach to Indigenous sovereignty,” the group wrote.

A complicated issue

Views are not monolithic across the Commonwealth, where the queen’s image graces currencies, and hospitals and public institutions are named after her. In downtown Toronto, in pubs like The Queen & Beaver Public House where portraits of the queen throughout the decades hang, many customers spent the weekend toasting her 70 years of reign.

In Barbados, Marva Niles was born in 1953, the same year of the queen’s coronation. When the now-retired custodian was a child, Barbados was yet to be an independent country, only breaking away from England in 1966. Ms. Niles grew up singing “God Save the Queen” and for her, the monarchy is simply part of her early life.

Bridgetown-based political analyst Kevon Edey says support for the monarchy splits along generational lines, but also gets complicated because the questions facing society are complex. “This divide also is reflective of the complex history the royal family had within the region, especially as it has begun to tackle its role in the slave trade,” he says.

Transitioning from a realm to a republic also entails loss – whether that’s the stability that comes from a centuries-old monarchy or the alliance with other nations. Indeed, becoming a republic is a politically and technically challenging process, and public opinion is still divided, even if it is shifting.

An opinion poll in Canada by Angus Reid in April showed 51% of respondents supporting the abolishment of the monarchy in coming generations, much higher than recent years. And even now in Barbados, it’s not clear that there’s strong support for the transition – what limited polling there was before the change on Nov. 30, 2021, showed a majority did not understand what becoming a republic meant for the country. Barbados is still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Can the king bring about change?

In the Commonwealth, which includes some African countries that weren’t former colonies, Dr. Gumede argues the voluntary association can find more relevance by becoming a trade alliance based on equal terms, he says, and less Anglocentric.

King Charles might create a kind of cohesion for the Commonwealth similar to his mother, but in the modern era. His reign won’t have longevity or be buoyed by nostalgia. But when he visited Barbados last year for the transition ceremony, he referred to the “appalling atrocity of slavery.” During a visit to Canada’s North this year, he urged society to “listen to the truth of the lived experiences of Indigenous people.” He also said leaders should work with “Indigenous knowledge-keepers” to “restore harmony with nature.”

On Sept. 10, the king was called “a man ahead of his time” by Prime Minister Mottley, both for his position as an environmentalist and advocate for youth.

Melissa Murray, a Jamaican American professor of law at New York University School of Law, watches the monarchy avidly. She wrote a viral Twitter thread about the complicated feelings the monarchy evokes when one admires the queen’s sense of duty while being cleareyed about what the institution has done to its former colonies. She says that future attitudes across the Commonwealth will depend on how the institution manages to evolve.

“I will say I thought King Charles had a very moving speech where I think he hit a lot of the notes that he had to hit – some conciliation and acknowledgment of the diversity of the realms that he now heads. And the real question is, is the idea of monarchy one that a society like ours that is fixated on these questions of inequality … a model that can be consistent with that ethos?” asks Professor Murray. “I think that’s what we’re going to find out.”