The British Monarchy in Former Colonies

The British monarchy continues to be a contested symbol of the British Empire in the post-colonial period, and the institution has been forced to navigate a series of political challenges since the death of Elizabeth II. The monarch remains head of state in 15 Commonwealth Realms, but the political significance of the position has shifted dramatically since the mid-twentieth century. The 2021 transition of Barbados to a republic, the 2022 accession of Charles III, and the 2024–2025 momentum for Jamaican republicanism have all made the question of the monarchy’s future unavoidable. The British response has been cautious and the Caribbean response is, increasingly, republican.

The 2022 Accession

King Charles III acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at Balmoral Castle. The accession was proclaimed in London on 10 September and recognised by the governments of the 15 Commonwealth Realms as the moment when Charles became the head of state in each of those countries. The 2022 accession was a test of the relationship between the British monarchy and the former colonies, and the question of whether the institution could remain relevant in the post-colonial decades was now firmly on the political agenda. Charles’s first Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth, on 25 December 2022, acknowledged “the painful aspects of our past” — a formulation that Caribbean commentators noted fell well short of an apology. The King’s October 2023 state visit to Kenya produced a public statement of “the most profound regret” for colonial “excesses,” but the British government explicitly refused to entertain reparations.

The Role of the British Monarch in the Realms

The British monarch’s role in the Commonwealth Realms is constitutional and symbolic, exercised through a Governor-General who represents the crown in each realm. The Reserve Powers of the Crown, including the power to refuse to dissolve a legislature, to refuse royal assent, and to appoint a Prime Minister, are rarely exercised, but they have been used in some Commonwealth Realms, particularly in the Caribbean. The most famous modern example continues to be the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr in Australia — a constitutional crisis that has been the subject of fresh controversy in the post-2020 era, particularly with the 2022 release of the Palace Letters.

Royal Tours and the Commonwealth

The Royal Family has been important in maintaining the Commonwealth, with the monarch and other members of the family making regular visits to the Commonwealth Realms. The 2023 coronation in London was attended by representatives of the Realms, and Charles has since made visits to several Realms, including Kenya and the Caribbean. The 2023 visit to Kenya produced protests about the British imperial past, and Charles’s statement in Nairobi — “I take this opportunity, as I did in my Coronation, to acknowledge the painful aspects of our shared history” — fell short of what Kenyan civil society had asked for. The 1983 tour of the Caribbean, the 1995 tour of South Africa, and the 2023 visit to Kenya all produced protests about the British imperial past, and the question of whether the monarchy is an appropriate symbol of the Commonwealth in the post-colonial era has been a constant theme.

The Barbadian Republican Transition

The most important recent event was the 2021 transition of Barbados to a republic. The decision, announced by Prime Minister Mia Mottley in September 2020, was the culmination of a long campaign by Caribbean republicans and was supported by all three of the major political parties. Sandra Mason, the last Governor-General, became the first President of Barbados on 30 November 2021. The transition marked a significant moment: Barbados was the first former colony to remove the British monarch as head of state since Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, and it opened the way for similar transitions elsewhere. Mottley’s political leadership in the run-up to the 2022 CHOGM in Kigali made the question of republican transition a Commonwealth-wide issue.

The Jamaican Republican Movement

The Jamaican government, led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, has signalled its intention to transition to a republic. The 2023 Constitutional Reform Committee, chaired by the academic Professor the Honourable Linnette Vassell, has been examining the practicalities. The committee’s 2025 interim report recommended a transition process modelled on the Barbadian experience; the final report, due in 2026, is expected to propose a transition within the decade. The Jamaican republican movement is the most prominent of the post-Barbadian movements, and its transition to a republic would be a major moment in the post-imperial history of the Caribbean. Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis have all commissioned similar reviews. The Bahamas has been slower, but a 2024 poll by the Caribbean Development Research Services found 58 per cent support for a republican transition.

Public Opinion and the Future

Public opinion in the Commonwealth Realms about the monarchy varies widely. Polling in Australia and New Zealand shows a steady increase in republican sentiment, particularly among younger citizens. In the Caribbean, public opinion is more divided, and the 2022 accession has accelerated the debate. The 2024 Australian republic referendum failed, but it was lost on a complicated constitutional question and the underlying republican support has continued to grow. The future of the British monarchy in the former colonies is the subject of vigorous contemporary debate. The institution retains a powerful symbolic role, but its political significance is gradually being reduced. The 21st century is likely to see a continuing shift in the relationship between the British monarchy and the former colonies.

Historiographical Note

The scholarly literature on the British monarchy in the post-colonial period has been transformed by the post-2020 generation of historians. The standard account of the early post-war period is Philip Murphy’s Monarchy and the End of Empire (2013). The more recent work, including the essays in The Routledge Companion to the Monarchy (2023) and Kate Strasdin and Saffron Versey’s Royal Britain (2023), has stressed the contingency of the institution’s survival. The post-2018 scholarship on the “Windrush generation” and the 2021-2024 work on the Barbadian transition have made the Caribbean republican case the central question. The most useful recent work, including the 2024 Round Table special issue and Priya Satia’s Time’s Monster (2020), reads the monarchy as a vehicle for the moral vocabulary of empire that the British government has been reluctant to abandon.

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