Last Thursday Queen Elizabeth II died. And while half of the world was mourning her death and grieving, the other half chose to mourn her victims.
For the latter Queen Elizabeth was not a person, she was the head of an institution that killed millions and actively participated in colonialism and genocide.
Even in recent years the Queen made headlines by paying off Prince Andrew’s victims and of course the drama concerning Harry and his wife Meghan.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of crimes that are attributed to the British Monarchy.
And yet I was a bit sad when I heard the news about her passing. I am in no way supportive of colonialism, institutionalised racism or paying off your son’s victims, but the woman definitely was a once-in-a-lifetime ruler.
I understand why many chose to not mourn Queen Elizabeth as a person, because let’s face it, we did not know anything about her. She was a Queen first and even second, and everything else came far behind it. It’s one of the things I actually did not like about her, she really seemed untouchable.
Growing up in Luxembourg, I was always proud to tell others that we’re the only Grand-Duchy left in the world. Growing up in a Dutch family, I have always liked the Dutch Royal Family.
Celebrating King’s Day, all dressed in orange, it’s a tradition I would not want to miss.
So safe to say, I’ve always liked the idea of having monarchies around me. And I think it would be a shame to abolish them.
But I am not quite sure how we are supposed to keep them around any longer..
History has always been one of my favorite subjects and I have always been fascinated by the past, so it would be a shame to get rid of something so historical, that has been with us for hundreds of years. On the other hand, this exact traditionalism is what brings us a lot of trouble nowadays.
Unfortunately, we cannot change what happened in the past. No one can, not us, not the institutions we call monarchies.
And while all monarchies participated in a lot of ugly things, the British with their gigantic Empire ruled all over the world. At some point they ruled over 458 million people, which for that time, was insane.
That’s a whole lot of people to answer to.
And no one even tries to start answering to these people. And that’s a disgrace.
While us mere mortals are trying to better ourselves, it seems that the people within power are immune to it. Not that this is news to anyone.
But I wonder, how they expect to continue like this when millions, maybe even billions, of people are waiting for recognition and redemption. While a sheer ‘Sorry’ would not be enough, it would at least be a start.
We are at a point where monarchies need to acknowledge that they are not above us and that they, just like us, are fallible people. How about apologizing for a change? I’m pretty sure people would respect it.
They are for sure as hell not going to respect you, if you cover up your son’s rape allegations.
It’s therefore also no surprise, that as soon as the Queen died, questions arose about how many countries King Charles III would reign over. Referendums will be held, a country or two might declare independence. And rightly so. Even in the UK, people do not see him as their king.
It’s going to be difficult to walk that fine line for traditional monarchies, between keeping their century-old values and today’s climate of political correctness.
So is there redemption for monarchies? I’d say time will tell.
But if they don’t start to really think about modernizing their institutions anytime soon, it might mean and end to monarchies. And I for one, would hate to see that.