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In many Commonwealth nations, the British monarchy’s role is complex, as countries continue to reassess their colonial pasts. Often viewed as a relic of colonialism, the monarch's continued presence highlights both the enduring cultural ties as well as colonial oppression and subjugation. Calls for independence and republicanism continue to grow as former colonies strive to assert national identity and sovereignty. Curious? Click through this gallery for more.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back,” yelled independent senator Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous representative in Australia, following a speech made by King Charles III.
The Australian Greens party considered the King’s visit a “visual reminder [for First Nations people] of the ongoing colonial trauma and legacies of British colonialism.”
In a deliberate attempt to annihilate Aboriginal people from Australia, British settlers conducted over 400 massacres of Indigenous people in Australia.
According to the University of Newcastle, these "frontier massacres" killed tens of thousands of people. The exact numbers are unclear, as many violent acts were covered up.
First Nations children were forcibly separated from their families, taken in by religious missionaries, and either adopted or used as forced laborers.
Image shows casting of wreaths into the waters of Botany Bay, representing Aboriginal women and children who have died since 1788.
Stolen children were prohibited from exercising any aspect of their culture and from speaking their language. From the colonial perspective, this was viewed as a process of assimilation following the children’s removal. From an Indigenous perspective, this is viewed as an act of cultural genocide.
Only in 1969 did legislation make it illegal to remove First Nations children from their families. The Australian government issued a public apology in 2008, acknowledging these acts.
Similar histories by British colonialists echo in North America, India, China, South Africa, Kenya, throughout the Caribbean, and in many other geographical locations.
Mass displacement, the deaths of millions, cultural erasure, humiliating treaties, and the forced relinquishing of territories mark Britain’s violent history that continues to shape discussions on reparations and the scars left by the legacy of the British Empire.
The Commonwealth is a term that refers to, primarily, former British colonies. Today, it consists of 56 member states that have historical-cultural ties linked to British colonialism. There is a symbolic position of Head of the Commonwealth, whom today is King Charles III.
In October 2024, King Charles III began his tour around the Commonwealth nations. Some members have been and will continue to press the United Kingdom for reparations for the enslavement of people and the colonization of their lands.
Lesotho’s former trade and industry minister, Joshua Setipa, also claims that the United Kingdom should be responsible for paying reparation for its role in climate change.
One of the most controversial matters facing the UK today regarding Commonwealth nations is what’s often referred to as the Windrush scandal.
From 1948-1973, hoards of people from the Caribbean (from nations like Jamaica, Trinidad, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Barbados) arrived in the UK during Britain’s post-war labor shortage. Laborers arrived as part of the British Commonwealth, therefore free to live and work permanently in the UK, as per the 1948 British Nationality Act.
According to the University of Oxford, there are approximately 500,000 people from the so-called Windrush generation who are current residents of the UK, arriving before 1971.
In 2017, hundreds of people from this wave of immigration were wrongfully detained and deported, as part of a turn-in immigration policy. After several decades of making their lives in the UK, they were suddenly uprooted and returned to a place that many hadn’t even visited since their childhood.
The Home Office asked for proof of residency dated prior to 1973, asking for an official document from each year that they had resided in the UK. Many people didn’t have documents on hand. Some came as children on their parents’ passports.
Shockingly, landing cards from the ships that transported workers and their families were destroyed in 2010 by the Home Office, so there was no such way to procure official documents.
Suddenly, these individuals were deemed undocumented migrants, losing access to healthcare, housing, official documents such as driving licenses, and even access to bank accounts. Many faced arrest, detention, and deportation.
An initial review of cases has found that there are at least 83 people who were well within their legal right to permanently work and live in the UK and had been wrongly deported.
There is a fund that is set up to provide some sort of compensation for victims of the Windrush scandal, but so far the heavily bureaucratic process has been a disappointment, offering minimal, if any, payments, without any serious political reparations to undue the injustice of deportation.
A 2023 report, co-authored by United Nations judge Patrick Robinson, estimates that the UK is responsible for paying US$24 trillion in reparations for its role in enslavement in 14 countries.
The report doesn’t focus on the UK alone, however. It includes 31 former slave-holding states, with a total amounting to US$107.8 trillion, which Robinson argues is a great underestimation of the harm caused by these nations.
The British government has refused any call for the payment of reparations. The British monarchy holds US$28 billion in assets alone. Millions of Africans were enslaved between the 16th-19th centuries and forced to work on plantations.
Britain has never formally apologized for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. Calls have been made by Commonwealth countries for this apology to occur now.
In 2023, King Charles III highlighted the "great sorrow" over historical wrongdoings during a visit to Kenya, but did not apologize. UK government representatives claim there will be no apology during this tour, a symbolic gesture that several former colonial entities have conducted in the past. The UK government also denies any possibility for financial reparations.
King Charles III’s visit to Commonwealth nations has been a source of controversy for many nations, some of which are pursuing their independence. Former visits have also been met by public protests in several nations.
While the Commonwealth structure is symbolic in many ways, it represents a past vision of empire driven by violence, extraction, and power. Nations are asking for reparations to rebuild their societies still living with the consequences of British colonialism, while the UK continues to deny even symbolic apologies.
Sources: (AP News) (CNN) (The Guardian) (University of Newcastle) (Australian Museum) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC) (University of Oxford)
See also: Important historical events that changed the world forever
Colonial echoes: The British monarchy's role in Commonwealth nations today
The evolving movement towards greater autonomy among the Commonwealth of Nations
LIFESTYLE United kingdom
In many Commonwealth nations, the British monarchy’s role is complex, as countries continue to reassess their colonial pasts. Often viewed as a relic of colonialism, the monarch's continued presence highlights both the enduring cultural ties as well as colonial oppression and subjugation. Calls for independence and republicanism continue to grow as former colonies strive to assert national identity and sovereignty. Curious? Click through this gallery for more.