Last September, Barbados rather suddenly announced that they were exiting (Cexiting?) the British Commonwealth. The whole Barbados Cexit (Comexit?) will become official this year. I wondered, at the time, if this was a not-so-subtle reaction to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit from the royal family, and the dawning realization that, oh right, Britain still functions like a racist colonial power, and the Windsors are a huge part of that. The added pain for the Windsors is that the Queen gives a sh-t about the Commonwealth. Her love of her commonwealth is one of the reasons why she was pro-Brexit: she believes that Britain needs to strengthen their economic and diplomatic ties with the nations they once ruled, as opposed to strengthening ties with other European nations. It looks like Barbados really was the first post-Sussexit domino to fall. And perhaps now, post-Oprah interview, more Commonwealth dominoes will fall:
Meghan and Harry’s bombshell Oprah interview is threatening to break up the Commonwealth as countries and commentators question whether they still want to be associated with the Royal Family. Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s former Prime Minister, led calls to ditch Britain’s monarch as head of state following the interview, which saw the Duke and Duchess air claims of racism, emotional neglect, and bullying. Mr Turnbull, a long-time republican, said Australia should seriously question whether the next monarch after Queen Elizabeth ‘should become our head of state’.
Meghan’s allegation that a member of the family asked what colour her baby’s skin would be also prompted a backlash in countries including Jamaica, South Africa, Barbados and India, with some saying it recalls ‘British colonial racism’. It brings the future of the Commonwealth – a community of 54 countries, many of them former British colonies, which the Queen has spent a lifetime promoting – into question in the twilight years of her reign.
Mr Turnbull led the criticism on Tuesday, telling Australian media: ‘It’s clearly an unhappy family or at least Meghan and Harry are unhappy. It seems very sad. After the end of the queen’s reign, that is the time for us to say: Okay, we’ve passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the head of state of — the king or queen of the U.K., automatically our head of state?’
Meanwhile Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party, blasted that the monarchy ‘is in no way beneficial to Canadians in terms of their everyday life. And with the systematic racism that we’ve seen, it seems to be in that institution as well.’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck a more measured tone but notably did not come to the monarchy’s defence, simply saying that ‘now is not the time’ for questions of constitutional reform. ‘I wish all the members of the royal family all the best, but my focus is getting through this pandemic,’ he said. ‘If people want to later talk about constitutional change and shifting our system of government that’s fine, and they can have those conversations, but right now I’m not having those conversations.’
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, struck a similar tone – saying there is ‘no appetite’ for a ‘significant change in our constitutional arrangements’.
The story goes on – as you can imagine, African Commonwealth countries were none too pleased, with journalists, politicians and activists speaking out post-interview about Britain’s colonialist past. There is a massive backlash against the crown in South Africa and Kenya especially. The Caribbean Commonwealth nations have my vote for being the first ones out of the arrangement. Interesting enough, the former “jewel of the crown,” INDIA, didn’t even have a TV channel buy the rights to the Oprah interview. Still, India’s vibrant media covered what went down with the Sussexes and now there are grumbles there too. As much as I hope for a mass exodus from the Commonwealth (it’s what she deserves), I will settle for one big move from Canada, Australia, New Zealand or India. I think that would be great.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, WENN.
Come on Canada….shake this bitch loose!!
There has been reporting that it would be harder for us here in Canada to ditch the monarchy than it would for the UK. The motion has to be passed on each individual province and then the country as whole. We could however appoint our own Monarch, maybe Wayne Gretsky wants new job?!
I am curious as to what would happen to Commonwealth governments if Britain did end the monarchy?
@Liane – I was wondering the same and I also wonder what Harry & Meghan think about the idea of the end of the Monarchy or commonwealth countries leaving. From the interview, it didn’t feel at all like either of them were against the Monarchy or Commonwealth but the way the powers that be surrounding the monarchy operated.
@GraceB I think Harry and Meghan would say “You reap what you have sown”. Period. Harry and Meghan were trying to promote the conversation on colonialism and systematic racism and they got blasted by the establishment for it. Sooo, here we be.
The problem with Canada is that you need all 10 provinces to sign on to a constitutional amendment, which has never happened, and if you open this one issue, some provinces will want to reopen the entire constitution and the foundations of our confederation itself. So Canada won’t be the first, unfortunately.
The phrase “A whole can of worms” comes to mind. 😉
It’s more than the provinces that have to sign on. Treaties with Indigenous Peoples exist with the crown, and Aboriginal rights & title originate from the Royal Proclamation (1773). Unless and until there is significant consultation with Indigenous Peoples, any attempts at severing Canada’s connection to the monarchy will go no where. If the government attempted to make that move without agreement from Indigenous Peoples—and without robust treaties to replace those with the crown—all that would be left is Aboriginal title, which predates Confederation (Delgamuukw, 1997).
I have a feeling there are some other ways to negotiate this. And the practical shuttering of relations with the monarchy will be pretty straightforward.
Seems to me that it would be great for us to finally delink our national identity from anglophone Britain. Maybe we could create a more accurate and equal representation of ourselves in terms of the three original nations within our colonization experiment: anglophones, francophones, and FN.
In all honesty Quebec will never get on board and without honouring the rights and treaties of the First Nations ,of which, some bands don’t actually recognize Canada as a country it would be really hard to have any sort of constitutional reform. So we are basically stuck with these jerks until the whole thing crumbles.
Yes, MadFab, thank you for pointing out my oversight! We are already seeing a call to reestablish and renegotiate that nation-to-nation relationship right now across the country in many different situations, from pipelines in BC to the LandBack movement to the moderate livelihood fishery in the Maritimes, as well as the push to acknowledge past and present racial injustices. I also have seen a number of Indigenous activists and artists on Twitter who are ready to leave the monarchy in the past.
Also I agree GrnieWnie about the need to delink our national identity from the UK. We (the dominant White English Canadian culture that I grew up belonging to) have historically used that relationship to define ourselves as separate from the US. But because of the logistics I think Canada is going to be a republic culturally, probably long before we manage to achieve it constitutionally.
Canada leaving will likely be seen as more trouble than it’s worth. The monarchy doesn’t interfere but leaving would be incredibly expensive and take a very long time.
Also, our indigenous people have treaties with “The Crown” so I’m not sure if that would be considered the actual crown or the government of Canada. It could actually be good for reconciliation if we resigned treaties and followed through on them. I would want the wishes and rights of indigenous people to be considered rather than ignored.
Sorry, saw this has been addressed already and better than I did it 🙂
It would probably be relatively easy in NZ, if public opinion went that way. There’s no constitution, just layers of legislation to update.
Livvers – you also have to have the buy-in of Canada’s indigenous peoples. Each First Nations’ tribe is considered ‘sovereign’ and self-government is the formal structure through which they control the administration of their people, land, resources and related programs and policies, through agreements with federal and provincial governments. Many have treaties with the monarchy as well. From MacLean’s Magazine in 2016:
“Most Canadians don’t realize that for Indigenous Peoples, Canada’s place in its Treaty relationships is not fulfilled by the government of the day, but rather by the Crown—specifically the Queen. Canadians have a vague understanding of the Crown in Canada and its place at the very heart of our democracy. Indeed, trying to understand the delicate bonds holding this Confederation together is impossible without encountering its constitutional monarchy. However, what people need to realize is that the relationship between the Sovereign and Indigenous Peoples is at the heart of any Treaty. Remove the Crown from Confederation and the whole family could come apart—delete the Sovereign from Treaties and Canada’s very existence becomes impossible.”
So any decision regarding leaving the Commonwealth would likely be a very long, complicated and fractious negotiation which must include each and every indigenous peoples in its development.
I doubt Canada will and I know for a fact many African countries won’t. Our African leaders are still under the colonial mentality.
This ! Elizabeth.
As someone from an African commonwealth country, It’s something I’ve been advocating for years. It’s one of my dreams. Africans always looked at me crazy including my family. But my mom did call me after the interview and say it’s time we left the commonwealth. People ate waking up, albeit slowly. I know that the younger generations will surely reassess the relationship when we are in power.
This is so irksome!
Once again, let me reiterate: it is NOT necessary to “leave the Commonwealth” in order to ditch hereditary leadership of the Commonwealth by the british monarchy. At the last Heads of Govt meeting of the Commonwealth in 2018, betty used her old lady queen privilege to sucker the Heads into accepting charlieboy as her successor. They did so reluctantly. However, the meeting subsequently declared that “The role … is not hereditary, and future Heads will be chosen by Commonwealth leaders.”
Its a whole OTHER matter, re: each C’wealth country that STILL has betty embedded in their constitution. Theyll have to go thru their individual processes to have that changed. And as you can see from what other posters here have said about Canada, Australia etc, it can be a pretty involved process.
I’m Jamaican and every so often the wish to kick betty to the curb is brought up. She’s embedded in our Constitution but we’ve taken some baby steps, such that, for example, the Prime Minister and other members of the govt, in their oath of allegiance and oath of office, no longer “swear allegiance to the queen, her heirs and successors.” Instead, they swear “to bear true allegiance to Jamaica. [and] uphold & defend the Constitution & the Laws of Jamaica…” etc.
But betty is [& her heirs and successors] still the Hd of State of Jamaica (even tho no one mentions that….its like a shameful secret.) It’ll take constitutional change to get rid of that embed.
@Carmen-JamRock your comment and a few others had me googling how many member nations of the Commonwealth are republics. I was aware there were some member republics, but I didn’t know it is more than half! 33 out of the 54 member states. Wow.
U got me laughing out loud, for real! 😂
I think it’s great that we’re part of the commonwealth, and so far the Queen’s influence has been very pro-democracy. WHen Harper decided to shut down parliament for 3 months, he was grilled for over an hour by the governor general at the queen’s request.
The commonwealth is an increasingly important alliance against the rising power of facism in China and Russia. It would be really stupid for us to leave.
This may be ignorant and stupid question but what do these commonwealth countries get out of the arrangement? What’s the actual benefit?
Speaking as someone from one of those countries (Caribbean), They get nothing. Not even free entry to the UK.
@Persephone Exactly! And even more disgusting, when you apply for a visitor’s visa, you can’t even get a multi-year one on your first try even if you don’t have a criminal history. You have to successfully apply for a six month visa at least twice before I think they’ll consider giving you a 2/5/10 year visa.
@ Lilpeppa40k I think that’s inexcusable. If you are a commonwealth, why would you have to jump through all these hoops? So basically they hold all the titles and still treat you as the unwanted step-sister.
This isn’t really true – young people get work visas in commonwealth countries much more easily. A Canadian under 35 can go work and travel in New Zealand or Australia or Kenya and vice versa.
There is no benefit. The Commonwealth is a relic of history.
That’s what I would like to know. It seems like the U.K. benefits the most.
They see the “Commonwealth” as just an alternative name so that Britain can still pretend to be a colonial power. Without those countries fake links to the Crown, the UK (hopefully soon to lose Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) will just be a dinky little racist country with a history of blood on its hands and stolen riches, that no Commonwealth country can stomach anymore.
I think scholarships, prizes from competitions, general diplomacy and potential trade alliance or partnerships. I think these can exist without the royal family actually. You can even give it another name. I can’t find its financials nor the membership fee to be honest but maybe others can share.
That’s for membership to the organisation, which countries with their own heads of state also receive similar benefit. There is no additional benefit to countries with the queen as their monarch though.
Yup. And some countries (like mine) actually get free entry, i.e., no tourist visa required, for up to 6 months. There are others who are eligible for UK citizenship, but that’s probably more about them still being a “colony” and having the Queen as their Head of State. Our country has also benefitted from grants and knowledge/human resource training and exchanges.
Don’t forget cricket, soccer and rugby.
@myra, yes I forgot to add there doesn’t seem to be any difference between a member with royal as HOS and member without. They can try to say there’s a difference but I need numbers.
Also, I don’t know if a member with a royal as HOS pays lesser or same membership fees. Does anyone know? Or is membership fee based on GDP?
I imagine if you have a royal as HOS, you pay for their salary e.g. in the form of a GG or something. So, a Commonwealth member with a royal as HOS could:
1) pay same membership fees as others + pay for royal’s salary
2) pay lower + pay for royal’s salary
Honestly in this day and age, another nationality as your Head of State is really weird. I understand yes Canada and Australia are most complicated, so in time, hopefully they can do away with it. All the best.
Nothing. Mostly a pressure voting block. See condemning South African for segregation in the 70s and 80s.
It’s meant to about advancing the members economies, support social development, and human rights. It’s always been super important to the Queen, but not so much to the government. The government went all in on the European Union. So, the countries involved haven’t gotten the support from the UK as promised. Thatcher ignoring apartheid in South Africa being a good example. However, the countries do get support from each other. So, basically, they need to kick the UK out. Meanwhile, the UK has been trying to get the US to become a “special friend“ to the Commonwealth because of Brexit.
The special friend dream died when trump lost the election. Boris was really banking on trump winning re-election.
Wiglet Watcher—glad the US disappointed him. 😈👏🏾🤣
The Commonwealth games?
better visa terms
not at all
New Zealand’s co- leader was asked about the interview and she said something in the lines of “why are everybody surprised that the Crown is racist?”
Well…she never was a supporter of the Monarchy, but that interview makes her look right, no? 🤣
I saw the interview and thought it was the most honest answer ever.
That’s a common answer where I live, too, but honestly, it’s not a good one (at least as I see it here, because it’s followed by anti-H&M rethoric). What this actually says is “we know, and we don’t care”.
@Nanny this “duh they are racist” comment…do you think it is feeding the narrative that their critics say Meghan should have known better instead of complaining? Is this dismissive and that’s why she had a breakdown, got ashamed and blamed herself?
I don’t know about that speciffically (although I think you’re right), but this is how I see it:
If the racism accusation was something else, like that it turned out they were blocking minority children from accessing school, or something, no politicial or public personality would go “I’m not surprised”. Because not being surprised implies you knew something was up, and if you knew, why didn’t you do something?
So why is “not surprised” a valid excuse in this case?
ETA: I wan’t to make it clear I’m not blaming normal people. I’m not surprised either. It’s just an odd statement coming from a politician, so somebody who does hold some power.
It’s not NZ’s co-leader who said that, it’s the co-leader of the Māori Party, a small political party who just got reelected into parliament. She is definitely aware of the racism, and she does care – she’s Māori! It’s the wet comment of someone amused that white people are only just realising.
If you’re asking why this woman did nothing sooner despite being in power, the answer is that she’s only been in parliament for 4 months, and she’s not part of the Government, so that’s why. She seems like a great politician though, so I look forward to more from her.
Who are you talking about? Nz does not have a co-leader????
Power to the people.
Yup. I think most are sticking it out until the Queen dies but plans are being made. Some may dip sooner.
Why would Barbados mess with Petty Betty when they got Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
I love this comment.
So much!!
Honestly I think Rihanna is why Barbados said bye, bye, bye. She does more for her country than the Commonwealth does.
No, no, Barbados gained Independence Nov 1966, the Prime Minister at the time drew up papers to leave the Commonwealth and from that time they were always rumblings, the present Prime Minister is using the same plans from 1966.
Basically Great Britain took all the wealth from the West Indies and Africa and left the countries in dire straits.
Canada isn’t going to get rid of the Crown of Canada as head of state. It’s complicated. I’m not a political scientist but the feds would need agreement from the provinces and that won’t happen without a lot of negotiations and terms from provinces like Quebec and Alberta (and the rest, let’s be honest.) Plus the First Nations people have a lot of treaties with Crown so what will happen to those? The Canadian feds (all of them) do not have the best history when it comes to respecting and treating First Nations people well. So no, it’s unrealistic to get rid of the monarchy (which I want to do) but hopefully this will trigger some modifications of the powers held by the crown.
I agree with all of this and I think you pointed out the issues accurately.
I see an opportunity for innovation. I’m into this. I’m going to think more about it…maybe in a year from now, I’ll have a vision for this, haha. Then I’ll start my campaign!
Grniewnie, that is very brave of you. I really hope you can garner more support, onward and all the best!
Yeah I live in Alberta. Most people here would probably be okay with ditching the monarchy but at a price. They’d want to know what they’ll get out of it. And it definitely won’t pass if a liberal government suggests it.
Honestly, not surprised. Many commonwealths don’t want to keep paying for the RF which does nothing for them. If Britain wants to keep them, let them. But every other country should have the right to decide. I was shocked at Canada coming out with wanting to leave, but JT was right in saying each of the provinces would have to vote to leave.
I hope they grumble their way right out of the commonwealth….it’s time.
After the interview aired in Italy there were a lot of folks saying that Meghan couldn’t possibly have been that ignorant into the workings of the royal family specially since she lived 7 years in Canada pretty much part of the commonwealth. I told them that I have a very dear Canadian friend for the life of her can’t even explain to me what is the commonwealth, what is its purpose and why should countries still be a part of it. Let alone How the effe does the british royal family works. If numerous people start asking those questions welp… Bye commonwealth.
I think there’s a serious overestimation about how much people around the world (especially in North America) actually pay attention to the royal family. Most people aren’t reading up on the royals beyond looking at weddings and checking out baby announcements. I wasn’t surprised at Meghan’s comments about only knowing the basics, because that’s most Americans in a nutshell.
Totally agree. I think I’m more knowledgeable then your average American only because I’ve been on this site for years and watched/read all the Diana stuff I could get my hands on over the years and I was just as shocked during the interview. Other than that though I never thought much about the royals until W&K wedding and even then I had no idea what was going on obviously because they aren’t showing us how the sausage is made. It’s all a big show, of course. So to answer someone higher up thread I do think that people saying “duh the royals are racists” is dismissive because they think she should’ve known and we are back to victim blaming. The average American has no idea and doesn’t care and maybe monarchists are too self important to even consider that and some commonwealth countries don’t have that understanding. It’s just not something we are exposed to growing up everyday.
Canada isn’t the UK. We wouldn’t understand their customs so Meghan wouldn’t have any idea just by living in Canada what the British are like, much less the royal family.
Yup. When William and Kate came to Ottawa six? seven? years ago, it was pretty obvious. They played Oh Canada which we all sang robustly but when they played God Save the Queen, most of us just stood. Only a few older people knew it.
Jump in, the freedom is fine.
Freedom if you are white because even in the United States black americans and other people of color are not truly free.
I’m not sure I understand? I mean the commonwealth countries jump into breaking away from the crown. If you mean it doesn’t automatically change things for the better for people of color, I agree. Yet, showing that they see here’s a structure not for us, and also actively biased against POC, and getting out is a good start. But, one person’s opinion. So you mean stay, right?
I’m Canadian and have signed several petitions to have the monarch removed as our head of state. We have a huge scandal with our governor general being a massive bully too so I vote get rid of them all! And get that old petty b!tch off my money too.
Maybe that’s a start. Get rid of your GG.
it IS the start! Let’s close the office! There’s some temporary occupant who looks like Santa Claus cosplaying a British Lord ca 1770.
Lol…Mad!
Agree about getting rid of the GG role. That money could go to much better use, especially now. Take the money and out it towards a national child care program!
The fact that Julie Payette was essentially forced to resign due to her bullying and toxic ways, yet we still have to pay her pension for years, just irks me.
What value does a GG bring other than ceremony and a photo shoot?
I know that Commonwealth countries voted years ago to have Charles become the new head of the Commonwealth when his mother passes but I’d really like to see them vote again, without the queen interfering as she did the last time, and see where the chips fall now.
Its already a done deal. Done in 2018 (& betty and charles used H&M’s marriage as a shiny thing to lure the Heads).
Is there a time limit on how long the head of the Commonwealth serves? When does it come up for a vote again?
iirc they can choose to vote in a new head anytime.
I honestly don’t know if William will be voted in. Attitudes are changing towards the monarchy. And Will and Kate don’t do anything to support the commonwealth or make other countries like them.
The short term future of the monarchy will be very interesting. Charles and Will are both very unlikeable.
Philosophically speaking, I think there is a lot of support in Canada to stop being a constitutional monarchy.
But practically speaking, re-opening the constitution to make changes is a headache and a half, and we’re notoriously bad at reaching a consensus on anything. (The Meech Lake Accord failing comes to mind). Considering the monarch doesn’t cost us anything except when the royal family visits, I can see the status quo remaining no matter how disgruntled we may feel.
Having said that, I’d happily be proven wrong. I’m a naturalized Cdn citizen and I had to make an oath to the Queen and her family. It felt weird.
I think it depends on the region. There is certainly strong support in Quebec, but the Atlantic provinces and Alberta tend to have lower support. Ontario is somewhere in the middle.
It really has to do with how many people of British descent live in the province. The fewer there are, the more support there is to remove the British monarchy.
It is not the ever smaller immigrants from Britain. It is the Empire Loyalist who fled the 13 American Colonies during the American Revolution (1765-1783) who still have powerful members to this day who made Upper Canada (1781) more English speaking (Ontario). After General Wolfe captured Quebec in 1763 and freed the American Colonists from attacks during the French and Indian Wars to which they refused to pay a stamp duty to pay for the cost of the British garrison in the 13 colonies.
Canadian Here: Actually what we do have to pay for is the Governor General and that whole office and that is a lot of money wasted for a ceremonial role and the scandal that was the most recent GG is bringing that up just not at a great time.
This. Canada is a federation and it’s not a simple matter of a Bill being passed in the House.
I don’t know the structure of other Commonwealth countries but I suspect it may be “easier” to leave for other countries first.
Trying to get the federation to agree on anything is very difficult especially when it comes to the Constitution. And then opening up the Constitution is something most politicians don’t want to touch.
I like Singh and many of his ideas, I voted NDP last election but realistically the chances of them forming government and pursuing this is very low.
Having said that, I think and hope that we will eventually. I just don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime.
I have always found the history of the Royal Family interesting and wasn’t much of an anti royalist. I am the same age as William and had such a crush on him when we were teens. I watched the weddings etc. I am Canadian and I don’t really see much benefit to being part of the Commonwealth. I think one thing that stops Canada from opening up the Constitutiom is the worry that Quebec will leave at the same time. But anyway, these days I would be very “meh” if we dropped out of the Commonwealth. And if it saved us a lot of money I would be pretty for it.
If the constitution is opened up for this, every province is going to want other parts altered too. I just don’t think it’s worth it
https://www.newsweek.com/meghan-markle-prince-harry-racism-claims-not-aired-12-countries-queen-sovereign-1574807
People in these countries have the Internet, I can tell for a fact that people in Barbados watched it on CBS, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation may have not bought the right, but that don’t mean people won’t see it.
Too be honest most of the people in the Caribbean don’t really follow the Royal family.
Some places are even removing the Royal names from buildings and roads.
In Barbados Nelson Statue was remove from the Main Street ( Trafalgar Square) in the Capital and the square was renamed.
I’m Canadian and I’d love for us to leave while giving to middle fingers up! Especially after their current shitty behaviour. I’d also love for st Vincent and the grenadines to leave .. no more easy incognito flights to mustique ..
Given the shitty behaviour of our latest Governor General and her abrupt departure from the job, it’s clear the cons of belonging to the commonwealth far outweigh the pros. The position of GG is nothing more than ceremonial yet they get paid a whopping annual salary (close to $500K) and lavish living quarters, plus a generous LIFELONG pension of around $150K a year. Julie Payette was a horrible GG during her short tenure, abusive to her staff, and yet she’s laughing all the way to the bank. I too am Canadian and would LOVE for Canada to leave the commonwealth but I doubt that will happen for a very long time.
$500K a YEAR??!?!!?? And a LIFELONG PENSION of $150K per year??????? That’s just wrong, on principle. For such a nothing “ceremonial” job!!!!! Geez louise.
Indianwon’t leave anytime soon. My bet is on either jamaica or south africa
India is already a Republic, so there is no need for them to leave the Commonwealth. The weirdest thing is countries that have The Brirish monarch as their head of state, for no benefit to them at all. India want to keep good political relations with the UK and its nothing to do with The Queen.
India doesn’t have a royal as Head of State. They can remain or leave the Commonwealth as a member. Membership is voluntary.
More than half of its members do not have a royal as HOS. The Head of the Commonwealth is purely symbolic and does not have to be a royal. There are a few members who do not have ties to the UK. As Dollycoa says, the weird part is having British royalty as your HOS (for some members).
Harry and Meghan just set off a megaton bomb and the dominoes keep falling.
“Meghan’s allegations” about the skin color? That was Harry! Harry has that conversation. Harry spoke those words in the interview. All sides are effectively erasing Harry from all things Meghan and Archie. Anyone else picking up on that?
All this will take is a few smaller areas to get the ball rolling. As the commonwealth shrinks the less appealing it will be to stay.
Some idiot on Twitter used “H lied about riding a bike when he was a child” to prove that M was a liar.
I can’t see Canada making that move. Mostly because there is talks of a CANZUK, a free trade and immigration between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. All I know is I walk by a portrait of the queen everyday (I work in a government agency). I used to jokingly salute it every morning. Now I shoot her the middle finger.
Good on ya, Shauna!
#AbolishTheMonarchy
Commonwealth politicians will push to leave if it’s politically advantageous to them personally. I would love for India to leave.
Good point Mia. The financial implications can’t be very important or it would be discussed much more often.
When I see “Kenya” I feel like someone called my name! And as usual when I see Kenya mentioned I’m like “I must not be Kenyan because I don’t know what they’re talking about”…yes the story is making headlines in the papers but the truth is the whole thing is neither here nor there to most Kenyans. but maybe someone else knows better I donno. also i don’t think people even know we are a part of the commonwealth, let alone thinking of leaving it.
Jagmeet Singh is not the opposition leader in Canada. Although his party (NDP) was the opposition party a few ago, in the last election (2019) he won only 24 of 300+ seats. I do get the feeling they could win more next time though
Come on Jacinda Ardern! Ugh I’m so sick of England getting some sort of weird deference like it’s more special than other countries. Old Blighty.
Jacinda’s great, and makes us look fab internationally, but domestically she tends to avoid making big decisions that aren’t around a crisis. It’s very unsurprising for her to avoid taking a stand on this.
Jamaica wanted out for years and momentum was high then they sent Harry to the island as a charm offensive. He danced, he hugged and he ran with Usain Bolt . Everyone forgot about it . It’s time Jamaica.
Maybe H needs to visit again and tell them how great freedom from the monarchy is.
Even if Australia becomes a Republic – and I hope we do very soon – I can’t see us leaving the Commonwealth. Aussies are sports mad and not only do the Commonwealth Games give our elite athletes something to do in the off-years between Olympic Games, they give medal hopes to countries that would never have a hope of beating the Americans etc. in the Olympics. But apart from the Games, no-one here gives a hoot about the Commonwealth. And we still haven’t forgiven Britain for cutting off our trade links and other connections when they wanted to cosy up to the Europeans back in the 60s and 70s.
No offense to Canada and Australia, but both countries settler populations overpowered the indigenous populations.
As a Xhosa South African, I implore Africans to rebel against the monarchy. As Africans we have the numbers to demolish the CW.
India has a diplomatic relationship in the Commonwealth, and the only thing that seems to register are the Commonwealth games and the occasional CHOGM hangout to spend taxpayer money (Commonwealth Heads of Govt Meet). There is nothing UK-related to remove constitutionally in India…not even in name only. No special exchanges that I know of.
It’s Australia, Canada and NZ (any others?) that have the UK monarch as head of state in their govt, repped locally by someone or the other in a decorative role. The formal head of state in India is the President of India (not the political head which is the Prime Minister)
I’m Australian and I have to say, the likelihood of us becoming a republic anytime soon is minuscule. Most people don’t think about it much if at all, and it’s too expensive and too much hassle to replace the monarch with our own head of state. The queen’s death will amplify the conversation but I think the general sense of if it’s not broken don’t fix it will prevail. We’re a fairly complacent bunch. The one thing I reckon would spur us on is if New Zealand pulled the trigger and decided to become a republic first lol.
That said, I’d love to be wrong.
I’m Australian and tbh I don’t really care if we stay or leave at all. I honestly feel like it’s a relic of a title and really means nothing. The Queen isn’t going to come and try to rule.
Between the pandemic and climate change, I would prefer our politicians to focus on these issues. I feel like a departing the Commonwealth would just be a distracting cover to aid other dodgy laws to slide under the radar with the media going on about “should we, shouldn’t we leave” bullshit.
The only perk of being with the commonwealth is getting student work visas for the other CW countries…..
Most likely Barbados is replacing its head of state with a native Barbadian because of the Windrush affair, whereby the Tory government broke a long standing contract. They destroyed all the records for people they had invited to live and work in the UK then deported their children 40 to 50 years after their arrival. The UK broke the contract that they had with Barbados that should the population explodes beyond the land, the excess can move to the UK.
The heads of states from the Caribbean tried to have a meeting with Theresa May while visiting for the commonwealth day service and she refused.
So they will remove the UK government all together and remain in the commonwealth.
Canada will most likely join the EU than replace the constitutional monarchy, Mr Singh is polling behind ” undecided” so there is no incentive to take him seriously, since no one wants a constitutional crisis. I remember when the NDP used to be progressive. Quite irresponsible, considering there are the ever present descendants of the loyalists. In terms of the Caribbean, there is Simon Bolivar’s dream and the spectre of Manifest Destiny. I do believe that there will be debates in the future in terms of changes to the law in these nation states, before William becomes king, but presently 9 out of 15 countries that are properly governed uses constitutional monarchy as a form of political governance.
Just an Irish person checking the article and comments to make sure no one thinks we are part of the commonwealth 🧐