After a record-breaking 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96. She was the country’s longest-serving monarch, so it’s no surprise that her death is a moment of sadness for people all over the world.
For many British people – the new prime minister Liz Truss among them – the Queen represented the “very spirit of Britain”, with a sense of duty, class and grace. But for others, the Queen and monarchy signify something else entirely, an institution inextricably linked with imperialism, colonisation, and slavery.
Though these things are viewed as belonging to the past, it’s difficult for some of us to ignore the role that the royal family played – and continues to play – in structures that allow inequality and racism to persist.
So, when news of the Queen’s death broke, not everyone felt sad or upset.
Instead, it was a case of business as usual for some – keep calm and carry on – or yet another moment to remind the public how deeply the royal family have impacted the lives of Black and Brown people around the world.
Black and brown people around the world who were subject to horrendous cruelties and economic deprivation under British colonialism are allowed to have feelings about Queen Elizabeth.
After all, they were her “subjects” too.
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) September 8, 2022
Writer Shirley Sozinha, 26, from London, founder of the pan-African cultural hub, UncoverPlat, says that the Queen leading the country for more than 70 years is a huge achievement and that she respects her as a woman.
“However, I do not respect the institution she comes from,” Sozinha tells HuffPost UK.
“What she represents is far greater than being a woman in leadership. She represents colonialism and her reign was the pinnacle of British brutality.”
As messages of condolence pour in from world leaders, including from the countries of the Commonwealth, there are those who point out that its very existence is a stark reminder of the royals’ role in imperialism.
The Queen herself did not colonise other countries. However, her family have benefited from the Empire and, some say, are yet to confront its bloody past.
“During the course of her reign, she witnessed the dissolution of nearly the entire British Empire into some 50 independent states and significantly reduced global influence,” Maya Jasanoff writes in a New York Times essay.
“By design as much as by the accident of her long life, her presence as head of state and head of the Commonwealth, an association of Britain and its former colonies, put a stolid traditionalist front over decades of violent upheaval.”
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