Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign was bookended by periods of great uncertainty about Britain’s role on the world stage. The queen, who died last week at age 96, was coronated in 1953 as the sun was beginning to set on the British Empire, and her death comes as the country reexamines its place in the world amid increasing calls for the United Kingdom to reckon with its colonial history and as republican sentiment gains traction among countries in the Caribbean.
Elizabeth learned of her father’s death and of her ascension to the throne at the age of 25 while in Kenya while on a month’s long tour of the British Commonwealth in 1952. A decade later, Kenya broke free from British rule as a wave of anti-colonial movements swept across Africa and Asia, and dozens of countries declared their independence from European imperial powers.
Many newly independent members of the former British Empire remained loosely knitted together in the Commonwealth of Nations, which was founded 1949 as a voluntary association of counties with shared histories and economic ties as former members of the empire. At its inception, the Commonwealth was intended to largely promote democracy, peace, and economic development across its member states. While it has proved a valuable diplomatic forum, particularly for smaller nations, it has primarily remained a cultural forum, as its political and economic importance was quickly eclipsed by other international organizations founded in the wake of World War II. “The Commonwealth has really not reached its potential,” said Cindy McCrery, a historian of the British Empire at the University of Sydney.
It has served as a powerful vehicle for British soft power and diplomacy. The queen took a deep, personal interest in the Commonwealth throughout her reign, making over 200 visits to member states.
These are the questions and issues that come to the surface as the newcomer takes the throne. Of course the towering global problems do not change — in some areas like energy and food crises they may yet get worse. Climate violence threatens, wars continue, terrorism lurks and bitter polarization deepens almost everywhere.
But in the smooth and rapid transition from one monarch to another lies the powerful message and example that some sources of authority still retain trust and stand unerringly for the values of peace and justice that many peoples of the world yearn for and yet continue to be denied.
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