By Sylvia Hui, LONDON UK
When King Charles III is crowned on Saturday, soldiers carrying flags from the Bahamas, South Africa, Tuvalu and beyond will march alongside British troops in a spectacular military procession in honor of the monarch.
For some, the scene will
affirm the ties that bind Britain and its former colonies. But for many others
in the Commonwealth, a group of nations mostly made up of places
once claimed by the British Empire, Charles’ coronation is seen with apathy
at best.
In those countries, the first
crowning of a British monarch in
70 years is an occasion to reflect on oppression and colonialism’s
bloody past. The displays
of pageantry in London will jar especially with growing calls in the
Caribbean to sever all ties with the monarchy.
“Interest in British royalty
has waned since more Jamaicans are waking to the reality that the survivors of
colonialism and the holocaust of slavery are yet to receive reparatory
justice,” the Rev. Sean Major-Campbell, an Anglican priest in the Jamaican
capital, Kingston, said.FILE - People protest to demand an apology and slavery reparations during a visit to the former British colony by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate, in Kingston, Jamaica, Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
The coronation is “only
relevant in so far as it kicks us in the face with the reality that our head of
state is simply so by virtue of biology,” Major-Campbell added.
As British sovereign, Charles
is also head
of state of 14 other countries, though the role is largely ceremonial.
These realms, which include Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and
New Zealand, represent a minority of the Commonwealth nations: most of the 56
members are republics, even if some still sport the Union Jack on their flags.
Barbados was
the most recent Commonwealth country to remove the British monarch as its head
of state, replacing Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, with an elected
president in 2021. The decision spurred similar republican movements in
neighboring Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize.
Last year, when Jamaican Prime
Minister Andrew Holness welcomed Prince William and his wife, Kate, during a
royal tour of the Caribbean, he announced that
his country intends to become fully independent. It made for an awkward photo
with the royal couple, who were also confronted
with protests calling for Britain to pay slavery reparations.
William, the heir to the
throne, observed later in the same trip that the relationship between the
monarchy and the Caribbean has evolved. The royal family will “support with
pride and respect your decisions about your future,” he
told a reception in the Bahamas.
Rosalea Hamilton, an advocate
for changing Jamaica’s Constitution to get rid of the royals, said she was
organizing a coronation day forum to engage more Jamaicans in the process of
political reform.
The timing of the event is
meant to “signal to the head of state that the priority is to move away from
his leadership, rather than focus on his coronation,” Hamilton said.
Two days ahead of Charles’
crowning, campaigners from 12 Commonwealth countries wrote to the monarch
urging him to apologize for the legacies of British colonialism.
Among the signatories was
Lidia Thorpe, an Australian senator, who said Thursday that Charles should
“begin a process of repairing the damage of colonization, including returning
the stolen wealth that has been taken from our people.”
Buckingham Palace said last
month that Charles supported research into the historical links between
Britain’s monarchy and the transatlantic
slave trade. The king takes the issue “profoundly seriously,” and academics
will be given access to the royal collection and archives, the palace said.
In India, once the jewel of
the British Empire, there’s scant media attention and very little interest in
the coronation. Some people living in the country’s vast rural hinterlands may
not have even heard of King Charles III.
“India has moved on,” and most
Indians “have no emotional ties with the royal family,” Pavan K. Varma, a
writer and former diplomat, said. Instead, the royals are seen more like
amusing celebrities, he said.
And while the country still
values its economic and cultural ties with the European country, Varma pointed
out that India’s economy has overtaken the U.K.’s.
“Britain has shrunk globally
into a medium-sized power,” he said. “This notion needs to be removed, that
here is a former colony riveted to the television watching the coronation of
Prince Charles. I don’t think this is happening in India.”
Since gaining independence in
1947, India has moved to shed the vestiges of British imperialism. The statue
of King George V that used to stand near the India Gate monument in New Delhi
was moved in the 1960s to Coronation Park. Once the scene of celebrations
honoring Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and George V, the park is now a
repository for representations of former monarchs and officials of the British
Raj in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has led a renewed push to reclaim India’s past and erase “symbols of slavery”
from the country’s time under the British crown. His government has scrubbed
away colonial-era street names, some laws and even flag symbols.
“I don’t think we should care
much about (the royals),” Milind Akhade, a photographer in New Delhi, said.
“They enslaved us for so many years.”
In Nairobi, Kenya, motorcycle
taxi driver Grahmat Luvisia was similarly dismissive of the idea of following
the coronation on TV.
“I will not be interested in
watching the news or whatever is happening over there because we have been
mistreated back then by those colonizers,” he said.
Herman Manyora, a political
analyst and journalism professor at the University of Nairobi, said memories of
Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s are still raw.
Many Kenyans will not watch
the coronation “because of the torture during colonialism, because of the
oppression, because of detentions, because of killings, because of the
alienation of our land,” Manyora said.
Not everyone is as critical.
In Uganda, political analyst Asuman Bisiika says British culture continues to
have a strong influence on young people in the East African country, especially
those who follow English soccer. There is also a lot of goodwill for Queen
Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne.
“It’s not about caring for the
British monarchy,” Bisiika said. “It’s about relating.”
In the South African city of
Durban, expat British communities have planned a live screening of the
coronation ceremony, complete with trumpeters to announce the moment the
Archbishop of Canterbury crowns Charles. On Sunday, there will be a special
church service followed by a picnic or a “braai,” a traditional South African
barbecue.
“I think people want to be
part of an important moment in history,” Illa Thompson, one of the organizers
of the festivities, said.
Experts say that despite its
flaws, historical baggage and fraying edges, the Commonwealth still holds
appeal, especially for poorer nations. Gabon and Togo, which are former French
colonies with no colonial links to Britain, became the association’s newest
members last year. Most observers believe countries like Jamaica that want an
elected head of state are likely to retain their memberships.
“Countries, whether they
benefit or not, feel like they need to have this closeness to Britain as an
economic entity,” said Kehinde Andrews, a professor of Black Studies at
Birmingham City University. “As much as there will be still be some dissent —
(Charles) is not as popular as his mother — it’s all about the
economics.”
