King warned he could face ‘rush for the Commonwealth door’
The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda has already declared plans for a referendum on becoming a republic and other nations could follow suit following the Queen’s death.
Commonwealth nations could make “a rush for the door” to leave the association or replace the British monarch as head of state after the Queen’s death, an expert has predicted.
After the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda declared this week that he would go ahead with a referendum on becoming a republic, Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, suggested that others might soon follow suit.
“A movement had already started before she died,” he said. It is being fuelled by “a combination of things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush scandal and the growing momentum behind the move for reparations for slavery and colonialism.”
The Commonwealth, formed in 1949, was in its infancy when the Queen took the throne in 1952, a gathering of only seven postcolonial nations. It has since swelled to 56 members across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. Four years ago the King was nominated by his mother to succeed her, after two years of official lobbying.
Prof Murphy, author of a critical book on the Commonwealth entitled The Empire’s New Clothes, was dismissive of the association’s impact on global affairs. “If you want to write a history of the world of international relations, certainly since the 1990s, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to mention the Commonwealth,” he said. “The Commonwealth is so insubstantial it doesn’t have any impact at all, and no one would notice if it disappeared tomorrow, in terms of its practical effects.”
Antigua, a former British colony that declared independence in 1981, is among 16 countries, or “realms”, with the British monarch as head of state where republican calls are growing.
When William and Catherine, now the Prince and Princess of Wales, visited Jamaica this year its prime minister told them that it would shortly seek to become a republic. Other nations likely to consider the question include Barbados, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, the Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the case of several countries that retained the Queen as head of state, the association is so specific that their constitutions will need to be rewritten to accept King Charles III in the role. It is thought that some may decide it is not worth renewing their commitment. However, the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand have ruled out referendums on the monarchy in the immediate future. Although Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister, suggested on Monday that it would eventually become a republic, and probably in her lifetime, she said her government had more pressing issues.
Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, said on Friday that he would not pursue questions of constitutional change unless he were re-elected, out of “deep respect and admiration” for the Queen.
Gaston Browne, Antigua’s prime minister, told ITV News that the Caribbean nation could hold a referendum within three years but insisted his words were not linked to the Queen’s death. “The question was put to me about republicanism and I did not dodge it,” he told The Times. “I said, yes, we have already announced several years ago to turn into a republic.”
– The Times
More Coverage
Nobel winner issues AI alert
After receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics, British-Canadian AI pioneer Brian Hinton, who shared the prize with John Hopfield, warned that the technology he helped create could lead to the subjugation of humanity.
Israel is right to fight but I just can’t trust Netanyahu
The only response to October 7 was to destroy Hamas, but any peaceful aftermath will require an act of imagination on Israel’s part.