After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, is it still meaningful to belong to the Commonwealth ?
The Commonwealth countries are a group of former British colonies which have the British King Charles III now as Head of State.Queen Elizabeth II used to be its governor, she was well-liked by her people and reigned for a very long time, so for the Commonwealth, she was the first face of decolonization and a leading figure. For the new generations, cultural heritage is very important and Charles is not liked as much as his mother.
A few countries have already decided to quit the Commonwealth recently, like Antigua-and-Barbuda which became republics after a referendum. For Jamaica, there has been a growing republican sentiment for a few years. As the population’s ancestors used to be slaves, and due to the repeated visits of the Royal family overtime , the people claimed louder for slavery reparations but were never responded to by the Royals.
Australia has republican motives too plus cultural ones for the way the Natives were colonized but they haven’t said anything about leaving the Commonwealth yet. Moreover, as it is expressed in the word itself , « Commonwealth » is about sharing cultural influence and economic wealth, helping other countries within the organisation. To finish, members of the Commonwealth such as Canada and Rwanda would have the same motives, so we will have to wait and see what they decide.
Noémie Bissonnier – Sources : The Guardian, BBC News