John Hawkins in the 1500s, and Queen Elizabeth II never apologized for that connection when she was monarch. The British royal family's legacy is inextricably tied to imperialism and slavery: Queen Elizabeth I actively supported the slave trader Capt. "But when we sit there and we're honest with ourselves, we have to say these people colonized us. "We love this particular Queen Elizabeth," Adeyela Bennett, a nonprofit business owner from the Bahamas, told Insider's DeArbea Walker in 2021. The Queen's death is a contributing factor for many of these nations, as some say her grandmotherly persona made it easier to put aside the Commonwealth's roots in colonialism. After Barbados removed the Queen as its sovereign in 2021, other countries followed, and, as of 2022, 42 of the 56 member nations were independent. At the Commonwealth's height, Elizabeth was the head of state of 31 realms.Īs PBS reported, the nations that retained the British ruler as their constitutional monarch may have seen the connection to the UK as a path to "political legitimacy" and a sign of internal stability, while the realms served as a demonstration of power for the British monarchy.īut the Commonwealth's roots in colonialism and historical ties to slavery weighed on realms over time, leading some countries to remove the British monarch as head of state. According to Time, eight republics and 65 colonies, territories, and protectorates were part of the Commonwealth at the time of Elizabeth's coronation in 1953.īut while the British Empire crumbled as it began to lose its hold over territories, dregs of its legacy remained as some former colonies chose to become realms within the Commonwealth instead of fully independent nations, with the British monarch still serving as their head of state. Dozens of countries followed India's lead in the years after. In 1949, the UK opened the door for other colonies and territories to join the organization without recognizing the British monarch as its head of state. As the Commonwealth's website says, India wanted to become a republic, meaning it would be a part of the Commonwealth but not swear allegiance to the British monarch. The Commonwealth was founded as territories under the British Empire started to gain differing levels of freedom - though the organization as we know it today wouldn't come about until after India gained independence from Britain in 1947. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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