Queen Elizabeth II found out she had acceded to the throne while on a trip to Kenya in 1952. Throughout her reign she built and maintained relations throughout the Commonwealth, the club of mostly former British colonies, and travelled widely within it. It was an institution she was immensely proud to lead.
But when her death was announced last week and the 56 countries announced their own periods of national mourning, it was far from being universally observed. As Maya Jasanoff tells Nosheen Iqbal, the legacy of British colonial rule casts a long shadow, and a reckoning with it is well under way.
In Kenya, Caroline Kimeu describes a mixed reaction to the Queen’s passing. While President Kenyatta honoured her as a “towering icon”, in the streets and on online messageboards, there was anger at a legacy many Kenyans see as brutal and filled with atrocities that have never been properly investigated.
In Canada, Niigaan Sinclair describes a similar story of official mourning paired with disdain among Indigenous communities. Many point to treaties with the crown that their ancestors signed in good faith and which they believe were rendered worthless by the actions of generations of British rule embodied by the monarch.
Some Commonwealth countries are already taking action. After Barbados became a republic last year, Jamaica is promising its own referendum. Lisa Hanna, a Jamaican MP, explains the pent-up feelings of a generation who see no relevance of the British monarchy to their lives and want a head of state from Jamaica instead.
Photograph: Brian Inganga/AP
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