The death of Queen Elizabeth II has prompted an outpouring of grief and pride in her home country, while in other parts of the world – the independent nations of the former British Empire – her passing has caused a more ambivalent reflection on the imperial aspects of her legacy. That is because the queen was a symbol not only of stability and monarchical grace. Elizabeth II was also a symbol of empire and colonialism, and a reluctance on the part of some of her British subjects to fully reckon with the past.
In this episode of History As It Happens, historian Dane Kennedy discusses the reasons for the mixed reactions to the death of the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch. Not everyone is feeling nostalgic for the world in which Elizabeth became monarch, which was in the throes of violent struggles for national liberation in 1952. By the end of the 1960s, most of Britain’s colonial possessions had achieved independence.
“What has interested me is actually how much attention, especially in the American press, there has been about the legacy of the queen in relation to the empire,” said Mr. Kennedy, a professor emeritus at George Washington University who specialized in British imperial history. “She was head of state, and as head of state she was the symbol of Britain around the world – and of Britain’s imperial possessions.”
To be sure, Elizabeth II was not politically responsible for either the maintenance or dismantling of the empire, as she held largely a ceremonial role. Moreover, it is not entirely clear what she thought of colonialism during the first years of her reign in the early 1950s as the empire’s disintegration accelerated.
“We don’t really know her views. This was part of her skill as a constitutional monarch who understood her role was symbolic but not instrumental. She did not take part in policy,” said Mr. Kennedy, the author of “The Imperial History Wars: Debating the British Empire.”
Yet Elizabeth II was a powerful symbol whose long reign bridged historical eras. Learn why some former colonial subjects object to a romanticized view of the monarchy by listening to this episode of History As It Happens.
