Just yesterday a Jamaican minister said it was time for the country to become a republic. Although Jamaica has been independent since 1962, it is still part of the Commonwealth, so King Charles is the head of state.
new motive
His coronation, the minister said, is not a cause for celebration in Jamaica, but a new impetus for secession from the monarchy. “Many Jamaicans had warm feelings for Queen Elizabeth, but they have no sympathy for King Charles,” Foreign Minister Marlene Malahue Forte told Legal Affairs.
Correspondent Anne Senen says these feelings are an irreversible process. “Charles will have to find a way to deal with it, but he can’t stop it.”
In addition to Jamaica, five other countries have indicated that they want to get rid of the British monarch as head of state. They are all set in the Caribbean, where enthusiasm for the British royal family has waned dramatically in recent years. More on that later, first some explanation about the Commonwealth, which the British call the Commonwealth.
In the colonial era, the British controlled a large part of the world. It was said that the sun never set in the British Empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is actually still true. There is now the Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations that Charles still nominally heads.
56 countries
The Commonwealth now consists of 56 countries. Most of the former British colonies, after becoming independent, continued to work closely with each other and with London.
Of those 56 countries, in addition to the United Kingdom itself, the British monarch is still officially in 14 other countries. These countries are called Commonwealth realms. The most famous of them are Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
But the question is: for how long? New Zealand’s new prime minister, Chris Hepkins, will be in London tomorrow for the coronation, but he said a few days ago that as far as he was concerned, his country should become a republic, with a self-elected head of state. Although he added that he spoke in a personal capacity, and that this would not become politics. His predecessor, Jacinda Ardern, was also with the Republic.
The same sounds can be heard in Australia – here, too, for a longer time, by the way. In recent years, various governments have considered holding a referendum on the matter. The current Albanian Prime Minister has even appointed a special minister in his cabinet to handle the transition to the republic.
“moving forward”
We move: we move forward independently. That was the message Crown Prince William received during his visit to Jamaica last September. Host Prime Minister Holmes, as did his minister yesterday, is unproven: Jamaica wants to get rid of the British monarchy.
There is a great need for separation from the British royal family especially among the states and island nations in the Caribbean. In addition to Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis also want to get rid of Charles as king.
The distance to Buckingham Palace is too far, literally and figuratively, for many. “Of course, this has been going on for a long time,” says Anne Senen. “Especially in the Caribbean, they don’t have much of a relationship with the British royal family anymore. The older generations may have been with Queen Elizabeth. But the younger ones certainly don’t anymore.”
Therefore, the reaction to the upcoming coronation ceremony in Jamaica has been muted. “It doesn’t bother me because I don’t see what they do to us in Jamaica,” peanut seller Claudith Brown told Reuters news agency. “We’ve got our independence, what do we do with a head of state so far,” says carpenter David Brown.
bondage
It is precisely this colonial history that plays an increasingly important role. At that time, the British began to plant plantations in their Caribbean colonies and brought hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans there. The prosperity that this generated also benefited the royal family, and the new generation is more critical of that.
Rights activist Stephen Golding told Reuters that severing ties with the British monarchy is important for Jamaica. “When you look at the atrocities we endured during the time of slavery, I think that’s the last piece of the puzzle when it comes to our sovereignty as an independent nation.”
protests
During his visit to several countries in the region in March last year, heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Kate regularly faced protests.
Anne Senen: “Recently, the countries of the Caribbean have been accelerating the process of separating from the royal family. It is fueled by the need for further decolonization, and by the desire for autonomy. It is reinforced by the fact that Barbados is also succeeding in 2021. Barbados was still the most British of all the countries in that district. And Charles himself was at the party of separation.”
Scandals
Which also plays a role, according to Senen: “We know everything about King Charles’ private life. We knew nothing about his mother, who was of impeccable behavior and, in fact, the mother of all. But all the scandals surrounding Charles’ divorce from Diana, the issue of abuse to his brother Andrew, and more recently the crisis surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan, about the racism that will play out within the royal house: it also means that many citizens of the Caribbean have come out of it.”
By the way, members of the British royal family are already aware of the tainted colonial past. During his visit to Jamaica last year, Prince William said slavery should never have happened. Charles himself also expressed himself in this way. But formal apologies, which many people demand, have not yet been received. Watch footage of William’s visit to Jamaica here:
Charles cannot stop the fact that a number of countries want to get rid of the royal family. “But it shows that he wants to modernize,” says Anne Senen. “You can see it at the coronation ceremony, when he presents himself to the world. Charles wants to be more inclusive, and he will be welcomed by leaders of other religions. He should also be cheaper than his mother at the time, because the country is in financial crisis. Ordinary citizens are involved.” He wants to show that he is more than just a man of the people.”
It is not possible to prevent a number of countries from removing him from the constitution during his reign. By the way, this is not easy. For this, the constitution must be amended in those countries. And in Jamaica and Grenada, for example, a referendum must be held first, in which two-thirds of the population must vote for it.
