[Queen Elizabeth II originally ruled over 32 countries, but her
successor King Charles III is the monarch in 15. Could more countries
now decide to go it alone? ]
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‘LAST KING OF JAMAICA’: THE COUNTRIES THAT COULD DITCH THE
MONARCHY AFTER QUEEN’S DEATH  
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Ben Hunte
September 9, 2022
Vice
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_ Queen Elizabeth II originally ruled over 32 countries, but her
successor King Charles III is the monarch in 15. Could more countries
now decide to go it alone? _

Union Jack, geishaboy500 (CC BY 2.0)

 

When Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne 70 years ago, she led
the dying embers of a British empire that had once ruled over huge
chunks of the world – at its height, it was estimated that 1 in 4
people on the planet was a British subject
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In the 20th century, things changed. Britain withdrew from some
countries, and other territories fought to claim their independence.
Of the 32 countries the Queen ruled over during her reign, 17
eventually removed her from that position.

Last year, Barbados became the most recent
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The Caribbean nation ditched the British monarchy and swapped it for
their own elected president and head of state. Now that Queen
Elizabeth’s reign is over, people are wondering whether more
countries will follow their lead. 

At her death
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the Queen still headed up the Commonwealth – an association of 54
countries that work together on trade, the environment and human
rights. Almost all of the nations involved were previously ruled by
Britain, but the Queen herself claimed that “the Commonwealth bears
no resemblance to empires of the past”. 

Even though her role was pretty much just ceremonial, the Queen was
head of state of 15 countries in the Commonwealth realm, including the
UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica. She may not have had
much actual power in these nations, not even in the UK itself, but
many of them still looked to her as their leader, and needed her
approval to form new governments. 

With a brand new leader – King Charles III
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in place, now might be an ideal time to make some other major changes.
So where else could be looking to cut-off the Royals? 

JAMAICA 

The island nation was already pushing to remove the Queen as head of
state, with the Jamaican government saying it will happen by 2025
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However, before that, there will need to be some major votes across
the Jamaican parliament, and a public vote too.

Earlier this year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
experienced several PR nightmares while visiting Jamaica,
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awkwardly standing next to the nation’s Prime Minister Andrew
Holness, while he talked about Jamaica ditching the Queen.

BELIZE, THE BAHAMAS, GRENADA, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, AND ST. KITTS AND
NEVIS

Jamaica isn’t the only Caribbean nation looking to start afresh on
their own. Following the Cambridges visiting Belize on the
same “misjudged tour
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one of the country’s ministers told their parliament “it’s time
for Belize to take the next step in truly owning our
independence.” 

At least five other Caribbean countries have indicated they intend to
become republics “one day
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currently on the cards.  

AUSTRALIA 

In 2006, Australia’s then-prime minister John Howard cast doubt on
whether Charles would ever become king of Australia. “I do not
believe Australia will become a republic while the Queen is on the
throne,” he said, adding, “Beyond that, I don’t know.” 

Well, that has happened now, and there are already calls for a change
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In 1999, Australia held a referendum on proposals to become a republic
and replace the Queen with a president, but the idea was rejected. 

SCOTLAND

Less than 24 hours since the Queen’s death, questions about ditching
the Royals are even being asked in their home nation
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It’s been 8 years since Scotland voted to reject independence, but
the issue is still at the centre of political debate. 

The current Scottish government was elected on a promise to ask
Scotland about independence once more, but this is currently up in
the air
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Along with that is the issue of what would happen to the monarchy in
the event that Scotland did become independent. There are lots of
ideas
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and the Scottish National Party has previously insisted the Queen
would remain head of state of an independent Scotland, but
theoretically, the nation could cut off the king within the next few
years.

Some countries are more than happy with the Royals and don’t want to
change. In April, the Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, was given a
huge welcome in Papua New Guinea
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Leaders there told her they would be “embracing” their connection
to Britain, and “making it bigger and better”. 

Over her lifetime, the Queen made more than 200 visits
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the Commonwealth nations. While the Commonwealth has been applauded
for its group approach to improving international human rights,
there’s still a lot of work to do. Of the 69 countries that
currently criminalise same-sex relationships, more than half are in
the Commonwealth. Most of them only criminalise homosexuality because
of laws that the British authorities introduced in the colonial era. 

* British Monarchy
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* commonwealth
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* Jamaica
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* Barbados
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* Bahamas
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