Queen Elizabeth becomes latest victim of cancel culture

Oxford University students vote to remove the Queen’s portrait from their common room because it symbolises ‘colonial history’.

The Queen has become the latest victim of cancel culture after students at an Oxford University college voted to remove her portrait from their common room.

Students at Magdalen, one of Oxford’s most traditional colleges with a long association with the Royal Family, voted to remove the portrait on the basis it symbolised “recent colonial history.”

The portrait, a colourised print of a famous 1952 photograph of the Queen, has hung for years undisturbed in Magdalen’s Middle Common Room (MCR).

However, a MCR committee agreed to remove it because “for some students depictions of the monarch and the British monarchy represent recent colonial history,” UK media reports.

Alumni of Magdalen, founded in 1458, include the authors CS Lewis and Oscar Wilde, Tory politicians William Hague and George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and comedian Dudley Moore. King Edward VII attended the college when he was Prince of Wales, but didn’t graduate. The Queen visited the college in 1948 to receive an Honorary Degree from Oxford University and again on the college’s 550th anniversary in 2008.

Magdalen College is one of Oxford University’s ost traditional colleges.

Matthew Katzman, the MCR committee president, told The Times the print was being stored securely. “The action was taken after a discussion of the purpose of such a space, and it was decided that the room should be a welcoming, neutral place for all members, regardless of background, demographic or views,” he said.

The graduates aim to replace the portrait with “art by or of other influential and inspirational people,” he added.

The move has been widely condemned, including by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who said: “Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity and respect around the world.”

Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs, told The Telegraph UK: “The sad thing is that you would think that the people of Magdalen College Oxford are reasonably bright, and this decision would suggest that they are not.

“The Queen is the head of the Commonwealth and respected across the world as such, and to try to suggest anything otherwise is a dishonest distortion. The people involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.”

The portrait was bought by Magdalen students in 2013. It is based on a 1952 photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding to mark her accession and coronation.

Magdalen has indicated it won’t intervene to reverse the decision. The college’s president, Dinah Rose, QC, defended the committee’s move.

“Magdalen believes strongly in freedom of speech, and supports the right of its students to conduct their affairs in accordance with their own democratic processes,” she said.