A supreme reign

by REVEREND GUY HEWITT

AS THE COMMONWEALTH REALMS prepare to celebrate with pageantry and parties Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee – 70 years on the throne – others are using the occasion to press an antimonarchy agenda. However, there is value in paying tribute to one of the most iconic leaders of the 20th century and beyond.

Commonwealth Realms are those sovereign states that have the Queen as its monarch and head of state: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.

Barbados became a Commonwealth Realm on achieving independence but was the most recent to become a republic. While no longer Queen of Barbados, our nation should give thanks for Her Majesty’s past role but more importantly for her continued role of Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, which she accessioned with the Crown and of which Barbados is still a member.

The Commonwealth of Nations is an influential network of countries with considerable convening powers.

It is a unique grouping of 54 developed and developing nations – large and small, rich and poor – comprising 30 per cent of the world’s population spread across a quarter of the world’s land mass on every continent. It is composed of permanent members of the UN Security Council, a quarter of the G20, and has a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about 15 per cent of global GDP.

Of particular significance to Barbados and other small island developing states (SIDS), it has been a champion for small states. The Commonwealth pioneered the analysis of the special circumstances and vulnerabilities of small states and its global advocacy, of which Barbados under Owen Arthur played a significant role, lead in 2000 to the adoption by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund of the recommendation that “the circumstances of small states should be taken into account in the policies and programmes of multilateral trade, finance and development organisations.”

Small states

Thirty-two of the 54 Commonwealth members are small states. Thirty-two of the world’s 42 small states are in the Commonwealth.

Many international affairs commentators are confounded by the fact that nations that sought their independence from the UK (some fought), would choose to remain within a network that resembles the former British Empire.

In part, it was pragmatism, as the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru remarked in a speech before India’s parliament at independence: “In the world today where there are so many disruptive forces at work, where we are often on the verge of war, I think it is not a safe thing to encourage the breaking up of any association that one has.”

However, I attribute the willingness to remain within this so-called “Family of Nations,” to the nature and influence of British indirect colonial rule when compared to their European counterparts, and the capability of those who headed the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth of Nations emerged in the post-World War I era as Britain agreed, having learnt from her US experience, that the Dominions (Australia, Canada, Ireland (then Irish Free State), Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa) would be equal in status, “united by a common allegiance to the Crown.” However, chords of dissent were already sounded as India, a party to these discussions, rejected the idea of continued fealty to the Crown.

When India gained independence, King George VI agreed in 1949 to abide by a negotiated position that allowed India, although a republic, to remain a member of the Commonwealth based on “free association” and “equality”, with the British monarch being “a symbol of the free association of independent members nations, and as such, Head of the Commonwealth”. The modern Commonwealth was born.

When King George VI died in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II, succeeding in the role of Head of the Commonwealth, continued his pragmatism and most of the members of the former British Empire remained united within the Commonwealth family.

A key component of the Queen’s performance in her headship was the understanding of the modern Commonwealth as a multiracial and multinational association, and unlike many other European leaders in the post-colonial era, sought to avoid redundant ideas of imperial loyalty or Anglo Saxon superiority. Instead, she emphasised a shared history, ideas, and values of the Commonwealth. Although the Commonwealth’s ties to the former “mother country”were eroded by decolonisation and globalisation, the umbilical cord that linked states constitutionally to the monarchy was transformed by astute and congenial headship to create a new context for collaboration and coexistence.

Sharing common values

Mozambique’s joining of this “family of nations” in 1995 followed by Rwanda in 2009, signalled that membership is more about sharing common values than a shared history of British Empire.

The recent comments by Prince William following his Caribbean tour, to suggest he doesn’t mind if he isn’t head of the Commonwealth, and that he believes one day it may be led by someone other than a member of the Royal Family, was received by some as contrary to the Queen’s role and commitment as head of the Commonwealth. I disagree.

While not a hereditary role, I am acutely aware of the challenges, given the size and diversity of the Commonwealth, in trying to democratise this role. The modern Commonwealth has had two heads: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II and while I support republicanism as a symbol of selfdetermination, which I presume is Prince William’s perspective. I recognised the existential threat to the Commonwealth if the Crown passed without succession to Commonwealth headship being resolved and acted on this in the leadup to the 2018 Commonwealth summit in London. At that meeting, Prince Charles was confirmed as the future Head of the Commonwealth.

Today the Commonwealth remains at a crossroads, its presence and purpose unknown or ambiguous to most of its citizens and many of its member states ambivalent about its current and possible future role. Only time will tell how this long historic bond will continue, and where the unique relationship that has evolved between the Royal Family and the Commonwealth will go.

As I am in Scotland this weekend, sharing Prince Charles’ passion for Islay malt whisky, I invite all to raise a glass to Her Majesty the Queen, the Head of the Commonwealth: Slàinte mhath!

Reverend Guy Hewitt, a former High Commissioner for Barbados to the United Kingdom, worked with four Commonwealth Secretaries-General. He is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

GUY HEWITT (right) congratulating Prince Charles during the 2018 Commonwealth summit on his selection as the future head of the Commonwealth.

(GP)