tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/royal-jubilee-116055/articlesRoyal jubilee – The Conversation2022-06-06T15:07:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1844662022-06-06T15:07:04Z2022-06-06T15:07:04ZQueen Elizabeth II: a reign that saw the end of the British empire in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467177/original/file-20220606-22-vdmb9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth II waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Jackson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the UK the Queen’s official title is: <a href="https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/what-are-elizabeth-iis-titles-172181/">Elizabeth the Second</a>, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of political and social change during her <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-a-look-back-at-the-evolution-of-sport-during-queen-elizabeths-platinum-jubilee-184119">70 years on the throne</a>. None less than in what was once her African empire. </p>
<p>Famously, she was in Kenya (then pronounced by the British as “Keenya”), at the luxury Tree Tops game lodge, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-16904171">when her father died in 1952</a>. She returned hastily to Britain to accede to the throne <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-a-look-back-at-the-evolution-of-sport-during-queen-elizabeths-platinum-jubilee-184119">that year</a>.</p>
<p>This was her second trip to Africa. She had accompanied her parents to South Africa <a href="https://britishheritage.com/the-royal-family-in-south-africa#:%7E:text=In%201947%20the%20Royal%20Family,Swaziland%2C%20Basutoland%20and%20the%20Bechuanaland">in 1947</a>, the monarchy’s “last hurrah” in the country before the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/national-party-np">National Party</a>, which formalised apartheid, displaced General Jan Smuts’ United Party the following year. </p>
<p>At its height, the British Empire extended over something like a third of the world, but was already in recession when the Queen came to the throne. India had been the “Jewel in the Crown”, but had proceeded to a violently partitioned independence involving the creation of predominantly Muslim Pakistan <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Independence-Day-Indian-holiday">in 1947</a>. Burma (now Myanmar) went <a href="https://www.au.edu/news/myanmar-national-day.html">in 1948</a>. There were still other territories in Asia, notably Malaya, odd outposts in Latin America and various islands in Oceania. And there was still Africa. </p>
<p>There Britain’s territories included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>four territories in west Africa</p></li>
<li><p>four in east Africa (inclusive of Zanzibar, then still separate from Tanganyika), </p></li>
<li><p>the two Rhodesias (Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi)</p></li>
<li><p>the three High Commission Territories in southern Africa (Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland), </p></li>
<li><p>the island of Mauritius, and </p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire/Dominance-and-dominions">Dominion of South Africa</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>All are now independent, and have become republics, although all (Zimbabwe being the exception) belong to what used to be known as – but is no longer known as – the “British” <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries">Commonwealth</a>.</p>
<p>It was not realised at the time, nor intended, that the Empire would begin to dissolve as fast as it did after the Queen had come to the throne. However, by the early 1970s a bulk of the Empire had gone. </p>
<p>Britain effectively scuttled in the face of early nationalist stirrings (Ghana); the expense in blood, money and prestige of confronting armed struggle and violence (Malaya and Kenya); the increasing cost of demands for “development” in the colonies; the foreign policy disaster of Suez; and London’s developing sense that it should reorient its trade to a uniting Europe. </p>
<p>In fact, the decolonisation process had started half-a-century before. Ironically, it was South Africa which provided the constitutional precedent for the decolonisation process which was to take place so rapidly during the reign of Elizabeth II.</p>
<h2>The story of the dominions</h2>
<p>The rot (if that is the right word) started at the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10314616608595335?journalCode=rahs18">1911 Imperial Conference </a>, the first of several meetings of the British Prime Minister and his counterparts in the four <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Decline-of-the-British-Empire">“dominions”</a> (Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand). These were all countries of white settlement, territories to which Britain had exported population since the end of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars">Napoleonic wars</a>. </p>
<p>Some went as “explorers”, more as traders, and some (notoriously to Australia) were <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/australia-day">dispatched as convicts</a>. The majority went to make a new life, many escaping hunger and misery at home.</p>
<p>Fearful of a repeat of the loss of their American empire, the British governments of the day conceded “self-government” to British settlers, albeit in fits and starts. An early marker was laid down with by the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/collections1/parliament-and-canada/british-north-america-act-1867/">North America Act of 1867</a> which created confederation in Canada. </p>
<p>As dominions, such settler states enjoyed “self-government” over their internal affairs. But, they lacked total independence as Britain continued to control their foreign affairs, and notably, the right to take them into a war. </p>
<p>South Africa had become a “dominion” at <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/union-south-africa-1910">Union in 1910</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Botha">Prime Minister Louis Botha</a> attended the imperial conference of the following year. In response to the growing assertiveness of the four dominions, the British government made a significant concession. </p>
<p>It retained the right to declare that the dominions would join it in declaring war against an enemy state. But it conceded that they would have the right to decide their level of support for the war effort. The British were wholly confident that Australia, Canada and New Zealand would display their loyalty for “the mother country” in any European conflict. </p>
<p>However, a question hung over South Africa. Its government headed by Botha and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Smuts">Jan Smuts</a>, two former Boer generals who had recently been fighting against the British. This was answered in 1914. When it came to the crunch, Botha and Smuts <a href="https://en.unesco.org/courier/news-views-online/first-world-war-and-its-consequences-africa">threw South African troops into the First World War</a> without any hesitation. </p>
<p>They subsequently took to the field in uniform to crush an Afrikaner Nationalist rebellion against fighting “Britain’s war”. Yet when the war was over, a Nationalist government led by another former Boer general,<a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/james-barry-munnik-hertzog"> Barry Hertzog</a>, led the way in securing a further concession from the British at the <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/imperial-conference">Imperial Conference in 1926</a>. </p>
<p>This time round, the dominions gained the right to run their own foreign policies, to have separate diplomatic representation in countries around the world, and importantly, to decide for themselves whether to side with Britain in the event of another war. </p>
<p>All this was confirmed by the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf">Statute of Westminster of 1931</a>. Come 1939, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa/World-War-II">Smuts won a critical vote</a> in the Union Parliament to lead South Africa into the Second World War against Nationalist opposition. But, they took their revenge by defeating him <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-south-africas-catastrophe-the-1948-poll-that-heralded-apartheid-96928">in the 1948 election</a>. </p>
<p>Although Nationalist desire for South Africa to cut ties with Britain and become a republic ran deep, caution initially prevailed, and formally, the Queen remained head of state, represented by a governor-general as her viceroy. But when faced with hostility to apartheid by African states, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/south-africa-withdraws-commonwealth">led South Africa out of the Commonwealth</a>. </p>
<p>By 1961 it was also <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/union-south-africa-movement-towards-republic">a republic</a>.</p>
<h2>Decolonisation</h2>
<p>This began with the Gold Coast, which achieved “self-government” in 1951 before moving rapidly to independence as Ghana <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/gold-coast-ghana-gains-independence">in 1957</a>. Government was now firmly in African hands. But, the imperial legacy remained in the form of a governor-general, who represented the Queen as the country’s formal head of state and sovereign. But this was not to last long. </p>
<p>The time of the Great White Queen sitting at the heart of Empire had long gone, and Ghana transitioned to the status of a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ghana/Independence">republic in 1960</a> with <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/nkrumah-kwame">Kwame Nkrumah</a> becoming its first president and head of state. Albeit with local variations, this was the route followed in virtually every other British African territory over the course of following two decades.</p>
<p>By the late 1970s, every formerly British African state, bar <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/lesotho">Lesotho</a> and Swaziland (now <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/kingdom-eswatini">Eswatini</a>) whose own monarchs replaced the Queen as head of state, had become a republic. </p>
<p>The exception which proved the rule was Rhodesia. White Rhodesians, a tiny proportion of the territory’s population, had obtained self-government <a href="https://www.eisa.org/wep/zimoverview2.htm">in 1923</a>, yet Britain had retained nominal sovereignty. As one African government after another swept to freedom, the Rhodesians wanted to follow suit to retain white rule, but fearing African reaction, Britain had declined to grant full independence unless an incoming government had a democratic mandate. </p>
<p>Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front party rebelled and unilaterally declared independence <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Zimbabwe/Rhodesia-and-the-UDI">in 1965</a> and although the white settlers famously thought themselves more British than the British themselves, declared in 1970 that they no longer recognised the Queen as head of state and declared Rhodesia a republic. This never gained international recognition, and a conservative politician, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137318299_7">Christopher Soames</a> returned briefly as governor and the Queen’s representative in 1980. </p>
<p>The last British governor in Africa, he waved goodbye when Rhodesia transitioned to independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Zimbabwe">in 1980</a>.</p>
<h2>Looking to the future</h2>
<p>Britain’s relationships with its former African colonies are now those of trade, aid and diplomacy. The Queen herself remains highly respected, and acknowledged as head of the Commonwealth. Yet once she has gone, and that cannot be long, even that status for the British monarch may go. </p>
<p>At that moment, the rout of the British monarchy in Africa will be complete.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Southall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The decolonisation process was to take place rapidly during the reign of Elizabeth II.Roger Southall, Professor of Sociology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1798282022-04-19T14:55:08Z2022-04-19T14:55:08ZQueen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee comes amid her declining health, royal backlash and a colonial reckoning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456648/original/file-20220406-14103-hkilhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5382%2C3596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The screen in Piccadilly Circus is lit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/queen-elizabeth-ii-s-platinum-jubilee-comes-amid-her-declining-health--royal-backlash-and-a-colonial-reckoning" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A platinum jubilee is unprecedented for the British Royal Family. While historic, this year’s celebration of <a href="https://www.royal.uk/platinumjubilee">Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne</a> comes at an awkward time for the monarch. </p>
<p>It coincides with concerns about her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/14/queen-expected-to-miss-easter-sunday-service">declining health</a>, ongoing campaigns to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/at-the-stroke-of-midnight-barbados-becomes-the-worlds-newest-republic">remove the Queen as head of state</a>, controversy over Prince Andrew’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/29/prince-andrew-plays-prominent-role-in-prince-philip-memorial-service">return to the public eye</a> and calls for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/21/jamaican-campaigners-call-for-colonialism-apology-from-royal-family">Royal Family to apologize</a> for its role in colonialism and slavery.</p>
<p>But this is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-22/2021-could-be-queen-elizabeth-ii-second-annus-horibilis/100643696">not the Queen’s first <em>annus horribilis</em></a> (horrible year) and she has proven adept at coming back from low points. </p>
<p>Jubilees are critical to renewing the Royal Family’s relationship with the British people. They simultaneously reinforce the separation of the monarch from her subjects and attempt to integrate the monarchy into everyday life.</p>
<h2>A history of royal jubilees</h2>
<p>Queen Victoria’s first 25 years on the throne <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/14/no-silver-jubilee-for-queen-victoria">were not celebrated with a jubilee</a> because she was mourning the death of her husband, Prince Albert. In 1887, however, <a href="https://www.royal.uk/history-jubilees">Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee</a> was an ambitious event that set the tone for future celebrations. </p>
<p>Her Golden Jubilee reinforced Britain’s imperial status with visits from colonial dignitaries, an elaborate <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTG9NJTZFKk">procession through London</a> and celebratory events across <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire">the British Empire</a>.</p>
<p>Queen Victoria was in poor health when it was time for her <a href="https://www.history.com/news/queen-victorias-diamond-jubilee">Diamond Jubilee in 1897</a> but the celebrations were still elaborate and emphasized <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria">the Queen’s role as “mother” of the British Empire</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white image of a parade" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456665/original/file-20220406-24-q8aqgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession in London on June 22, 1897.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO/National Archives of Canada, C-028727)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Britain’s first <a href="https://www.royal.uk/history-jubilees">Silver Jubilee honoured King George V in 1935</a> and provided a model for current celebrations. His reign was marked with a month of royal addresses, religious services, a procession through London and festivities throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth. </p>
<p>In the midst of the Great Depression, <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/thirties-britain/jubilee-criticism/">the jubilee attracted some criticism</a>, but was considered a great success overall — both a welcome distraction and reinforcement of Britain’s global reach.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/06/silver-jubilee-queen-elizabeth-ii-1977">Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee approached in 1977</a>, there were <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780007476626/the-queen-elizabeth-ii-and-the-monarchy/">questions about the wisdom of celebrating the monarchy during a period of economic crisis</a>, growing nationalism in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and significantly reduced global power for Britain.</p>
<p>The Silver Jubilee proceeded nonetheless with a calendar of events that emphasized tradition and unity, both at home and abroad. The Queen travelled to all parts of the United Kingdom, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tcr4p">including a risky trip to Northern Ireland</a>, and visited <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/queen-elizabeth-silver-jubilee-visit-1977-1.5753948">every country of which she was head of state</a>. </p>
<p>“Jubilee Week” featured the lighting of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/07/archives/100-bonfires-mark-elizabeths-jubilee-100-bonfires-blaze-across.html">a symbolic chain of bonfires across Britain</a>, a royal boat trip on the river Thames and thousands of street parties. It demonstrated the capacity of a jubilee to redirect public attention to the stability and legitimacy of the monarchy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man bows and puts out a hand" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456667/original/file-20220406-12600-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth is greeted by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as she arrives on Parliament Hill during her Golden Jubilee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Modern royal jubilees</h2>
<p>Recent royal jubilees have shifted from an emphasis on tradition to more community-focused events. In 2002, the Golden Jubilee was an opportunity for the Queen to thank her people for “<a href="https://www.royal.uk/50-facts-about-queens-golden-jubilee">their support and loyalty over her reign</a>” after <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/04/diana.royals.under.fire/">widespread criticism</a> of the Royal Family’s response to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales. </p>
<p>The Queen reprised her travels throughout the U.K. and many parts of the former British Empire <a href="https://www.royal.uk/details-golden-jubilee-weekend">as millions turned out for a “Jubilee Weekend.”</a> The Queen also showed her willingness to modernize and connect with the public by hosting a “Party at the Palace” pop concert, which was watched by over 200 million people worldwide and has become a fixture in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-18327599">subsequent jubilees</a>.</p>
<p>Despite predictions that the Golden Jubilee would fail due to declining public support for the monarchy, the success of the celebrations <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/05/jubilee.monarchy1">could not be denied</a>. A decade later, a similar combination of tradition and innovation for <a href="https://www.royal.uk/60-facts-about-diamond-jubilee-celebrations-uk">the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee</a> pushed her public approval ratings to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/queens-diamond-jubilee-success-thanks-to-royal-rebranding/">a new high</a>.</p>
<p>As the Queen approaches her 96th birthday and undertakes only “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/04/royal-observers-wonder-if-the-queen-will-ever-return-to-full-duties">light duties</a>,” it will be difficult to replicate such celebrations with the Platinum Jubilee. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd swarms a car as two people stand in through the sun roof waving." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456669/original/file-20220406-14103-om08r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wave to thousands of people in Stormont estate, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>This year’s jubilee</h2>
<p>The Queen’s personal popularity <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/royalty/all">remains high</a>, but support for the monarchy is waning both in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/young-british-people-want-ditch-monarchy-poll-suggests-2021-05-20/">Britain</a> and the <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/canadians-desire-to-drop-monarchy-reaches-historic-level-poll-1.5330650">Commonwealth</a>. </p>
<p>The challenge for this year’s jubilee is to promote respect for the Queen’s unique status, while also building public support for her successors — <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/british-monarchy-succession-problem-prince-charles/">so far, the signs are not positive</a>. </p>
<p>Prince William’s recent tour of the Caribbean was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/25/william-and-kate-caribbean-tour-slavery-reparations-royals">received much more critically</a> than his grandmother’s earlier visits. Commonwealth countries, such as Canada, have replaced large-scale jubilee celebrations with DIY resources and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/platinum-jubilee.html">grassroots events</a>, while the Jamaican government has <a href="https://petchary.wordpress.com/2022/03/21/100-jamaican-individuals-and-organizations-sign-open-letter-to-william-and-kate-ahead-of-their-visit/">refused to celebrate</a>, citing the jubilee as a symbol of colonialism and oppression.</p>
<p>William acknowledged that his tour had “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/27/william-and-kate-better-future-commonwealth-caribbean-tour?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">brought into sharper focus questions about the past and the future</a>” but this year’s calendar of events doesn’t suggest a reckoning with Britain’s colonial past, no matter how necessary. </p>
<p>Instead, Platinum Jubilee celebrations will draw on many of the traditions that have bolstered support for monarchs since the early 1800s: the lighting of beacons, the presentation of <a href="https://www.royal.uk/jubilee-medal-be-presented-token-nation%E2%80%99s-thanks">Jubilee medals</a>, a festive <a href="https://www.royal.uk/platinum-jubilee-central-weekend">Jubilee Weekend</a> and the <a href="https://www.platinumpageant.com/">Platinum Pageant</a>.</p>
<p>New and old will also come together in more community-oriented events, such as the <a href="https://www.edenprojectcommunities.com/the-big-jubilee-lunch">Big Jubilee Lunch</a>, the <a href="https://queensgreencanopy.org/">Queen’s Green Canopy</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/platinum-pudding-a-history-of-desserts-with-royal-connections-175264">Platinum Pudding Competition</a>.</p>
<p>This combination of tradition and novelty has served the Queen well in past jubilees. It could succeed again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations will draw on traditions that have bolstered support for monarchs since the early 1800s — it could help this year’s celebrations succeed again.Catherine Ellis, Associate Professor, Department of History, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1759682022-02-04T14:34:14Z2022-02-04T14:34:14ZPlatinum jubilee: the British monarchy has been in and out of public favour for 200 years<p>As Queen Elizabeth II approaches her platinum jubilee, the first British monarch to do so, the royal family is also facing a difficult time. Headlines on the upcoming trial of the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/prince-andrew-trial-virginia-giuffre-b2001911.html">Duke of York </a> are competing with plans for the jubilee.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, news coverage suggests that the queen and other royals, notably the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, remain popular and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/01/21/majority-public-set-back-duchess-cornwall-boost-queen-camilla/">much loved</a>. </p>
<p>The history of the British monarchy shows that ebbs and flows of popularity were not unusual, especially in the last 200 years – an era when the royal family began to be presented to the public via the mass media.</p>
<p>In the late 18th century, an expansion of affordable print publications created a wider audience for media stories <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=66eT_QZ4npsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=amelia+rauser+caricature+unmasked&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=amelia%20rauser%20caricature%20unmasked&f=false">about the royals</a>.</p>
<p>The attention of these publications focused on three types of news: crime, sport and the royal family. Stories covering members of the royal family exposed them to a scale of unprecedented public scrutiny, archives show. Even before he became king, George IV’s character and extravagant habits were widely lampooned in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/print-publicity-and-popular-radicalism-in-the-1790s/7FF9C7DACF46F4BAD1CF20146F367482">caricatures</a> by cartoonists such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gillray">James Gillray</a>.</p>
<p>George had failed to appreciate that his habits – excessive personal expenditure, disloyalty to friends and gross self-indulgence – were disapproved of in an industrialised and increasingly urban Britain, with evangelical <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6LRdEAntclMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dror+Wahrman+making+of+the+modern+self&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Dror%20Wahrman%20making%20of%20the%20modern%20self&f=false">moral values</a>. Times had changed, but George had not. </p>
<p>Fluctuations in the monarchy’s popularity, and of individual royals, are often rooted in how the monarch represents the cultural values of the majority of his or her subjects. Elizabeth II has strongly displayed this during the pandemic, notably in her decision not to demand any special privileges at Prince Philip’s funeral in compliance with the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-56779000">rules of her government</a>.</p>
<h2>William IV’s popularity</h2>
<p>William IV appreciated why his older brother had been out of favour. His popularity increased when he opted for a low-key and low-cost coronation, spending nearly £200,000 less than George IV’s lavish celebrations. Interestingly, his wife Adelaide was the first modern consort to engage with the ordinary people through a range of <a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18370619/026/0005">philanthropic enterprises</a>, including the <a href="https://www.pengeheritagetrail.org.uk/the-trail-sites/the-royal-naval-asylum/">Royal Naval asylum</a>.</p>
<p>Widespread press coverage on Victoria’s accession confirmed her popularity. Archives show that The Globe newspaper commented: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>One united wish seems to have pervaded all classes, ranks, ages, and conditions, to make the day truly one of rejoicing: throughout the length and breadth of the land this is the case, and for weeks past the provincial journals have had their columns filled with the proceedings of public meetings, and announcements of subscriptions on the part of the rich to enable their less wealthy fellow subjects to join with them in celebrating the day in a manner suitable to it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite this, Victoria’s popularity dipped in 1839, after a scandal caused by Victoria’s unkind (and untrue) gossip about Lady Flora Hastings being pregnant. It turned out that Lady Flora was dying of stomach cancer. </p>
<p>But attitudes to Victoria shifted again with the birth of a son and heir. This is illustrated in portraits of the royal family by painters like <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/franz-xaver-winterhalter/">Franz Winterhalter</a> and is apparent through a survey of newspaper headlines, periodical articles and popular fiction. British historian <a href="https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/arthistory/staff/plunkett/">John Plunkett</a> from Exeter University described Victoria as the first media monarch as headlines established her as a national, and then imperial, embodiment of Britishness. </p>
<p>Even Victoria’s extravagant mourning after Prince Albert’s death in 1861 was received with popular sympathy as the mass market fiction of <a href="https://victorianfictionresearchguides.org/rosa-nouchette-carey/">Rosa Nouchette Carey </a> indicates.</p>
<p>Victoria’s popularity is also reflected in the consistent (unauthorised) use of her image in contemporary advertising selling an extensive range of goods from <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KmiaAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Thomas+richards+commodity+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Thomas%20richards%20commodity%20culture&f=false">black velvet to cocoa</a>. </p>
<h2>High profile scandals</h2>
<p>The popularity of her son Edward, the Prince of Wales, dipped when his indulgent lifestyle conflicted with Victorian morality embodied by his mother. This was particularly apparent when he appeared as a witness in a high profile divorce case and in an 1891 gambling case. Much of the media, including the Pall Mall Gazette, was critical of the heir to the throne admitting to playing baccarat, which was illegal. His conduct in the witness box at the Old Bailey was recorded as appearing shifty, evasive and dishonest, according to the Pall Mall Gazette archives.</p>
<p>But public opinion shifted back behind the royal family after the Prince’s eldest son died in the 1892 influenza epidemic. His other son, George, who went on to become George V, married Mary of Teck and, as Duke and Duchess of York, then became popular figures, much like the Cambridges today, after their tour of the Empire in 1901. </p>
<p>That 19th-century pattern has clear modern echoes in the 20th century and beyond. The abdication of undutiful Edward VIII strengthened the popularity of <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-137-56455-9">dutiful George VI</a> and his queen. But the lesson provided by George IV holds. What sustains the monarchy is its ability to appear both culturally relevant and cost-effective in the eyes of the wider public. </p>
<p>This careful balancing act continues and is something that Elizabeth II herself has been consistently successful in achieving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judith Rowbotham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The monarchy has seen highs and lows of popularity over the past 200 years, an expert explains.Judith Rowbotham, Visiting Research Professor in Socio-legal and Constitutional History, University of PlymouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1745632022-02-04T11:13:34Z2022-02-04T11:13:34ZUK city status: why even small towns compete for the royal honour<p>As part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations in 2022, towns from across the United Kingdom, and further afield, are competing for city status. The list of competitors numbers 38, with 23 from England, eight from Scotland, three from Northern Ireland, three from various British overseas territories and one – Wrexham – from Wales. </p>
<p>This year’s competition marks several firsts. It is the first time applicants from beyond the British Isles have been included. Also, the judging panel has been made public and for the first time, it includes not only government officials but heritage experts, among them Kate Mavor, the CEO of English Heritage.</p>
<p>Although the award is ultimately an honour bestowed by the Queen, towns interested in city status make their case to the government, traditionally to the Home Office but in recent times to whichever department of state accepts responsibility. This has included the ministries of justice and culture, media and sport and, for 2022, the Cabinet Office.</p>
<p>As I have shown in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/City-Status-in-the-British-Isles-18302002/Beckett/p/book/9781138252127">my book</a>, City Status in the British Isles, 1830-2002, if the administering department of state has changed regularly, just who is responsible for the competitions and their outcomes is not at all clear. Local MPs are expected to use their influence on behalf of their towns. In fact, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/inventing-and-reinventing-the-modern-city-the-2012-city-status-competition-in-the-united-kingdom/2A2944B1076DC7CB8033363B46D7205B">I have found</a> that city-status competitions are essentially about political patronage. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An orange tender boat brings visitors ashore from a cruise boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444339/original/file-20220203-25-asx4ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is Port Stanley, on the Falkland Islands – population 2,000 – to be one of the newest British cities?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stanley-falkland-islands-february-2020-tender-2107389653">Vintagepix | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How towns apply</h2>
<p>There are no straightforward criteria a town has to meet in order to compete. Applicants need neither prove population size nor boast a vibrant local economy; they need no medieval churches or Grade I-listed buildings to their name either. </p>
<p>As such, the platinum jubilee list includes Reading, a southern English town with a population of 163,000 and Alcester, a small Warwickshire town with a population of 7,000. And then there’s Port Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, which counts just over 2,000 inhabitants. </p>
<p>The government has framed the 2022 competition in terms of civic pride. Applicants were told to emphasise notions of heritage, innovation and greater prosperity and opportunity in their application. They were also told to highlight royal connections, presumably because city status is in the Queen’s gift. Quite how these connections are taken into account by the judging panel is unclear.</p>
<p>Those towns that are successful in their bids will have the right to append “City of” to their names and to change their street signs. They will also update their coats of arms.</p>
<p>According to the UK government, this brings many benefits. Cities, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/full-list-of-places-aiming-to-become-jubilee-cities-revealed">it claims</a>, do better than non-cities: “Winning can provide a boost to local communities and open up new opportunities for people who live there, as is the case with previous winners Perth and Preston where the local economies benefited from their improved national and global standing.”</p>
<p>Less quantifiable outcomes include international exposure and the general buzz of local excitement as feelings of pride, community and nationalism are generated by winning the competition. </p>
<h2>How cities are chosen</h2>
<p>Towns and boroughs in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have competed in such civic honours competitions since 1977, when Derby, in the East Midlands, won on the occasion of the Queen’s silver jubilee. Between the 1992, 2002 and <a href="https://theconversation.com/jubilee-queens-elizabeth-and-victorias-diamond-reigns-5251">2012</a> jubilees, a total of 15 towns have been granted city status. </p>
<p>Jubilee honours aside, there are other instances where towns have been granted the title by <a href="https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/royal-charters/">royal charter</a>. An unexpected competition was organised as part of the Millennium celebrations in 2000, which saw Brighton and Hove, Wolverhampton and Inverness gain city status. <a href="https://theconversation.com/southend-on-sea-how-british-towns-become-cities-170236">Southend-on-Sea followed suit</a> in October 2021, in honour of the late David Amess and his longstanding campaign to see the resort town feted. </p>
<p>Applications for the 2022 competition were submitted in December 2021 and the winners are expected to be announced in the spring. There is no fixed number of winners in any given year. But since there are applicants from each province of the UK it is a fair bet on past performance that each will have at least one successful candidate.</p>
<p>As Wrexham is the only candidate from Wales it can probably expect to succeed. Northern Ireland has three candidates. Possibly these will all succeed given the need to recognise the different communities in the province. </p>
<p>Of England’s 23 candidates, on past performance, no more than three are likely to succeed. The presence on the panel of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/catherine-frances">Catherine Francis</a>, the director general for local government and public services at the housing department may suggest that the government is thinking politically about which towns might be promoted, and not just about heritage and royalty.</p>
<p>None of this makes absolute sense. If it is advantageous for a large town to be a city, and the government’s own data suggests it is, why should towns like Blackburn, or Bournemouth, Colchester, Doncaster, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Northampton and others not automatically receive a charter? After all, the Centre for Cities, an independent thinktank dedicated to improving urban economies throughout the UK, lists, among the 63 urban areas that it covers, <a href="https://www.centreforcities.org/city-by-city/">25 English towns</a> which do not have city charters. These include Aldershot, Basildon and Slough, all with a population exceeding 180,000. </p>
<p>While a few places have taken matters into their own hands and declared themselves cities, either temporarily (like Milton Keynes) or permanently (Dunfermline in Scotland and Medway in England), for the most part, town officials abstain from using the term “city” in the absence of a charter. Instead, towns with city status pretensions go through these competitions, which are increasingly like as a sort of beauty contest, wherein patronage is key. </p>
<p>When Preston, a Labour stronghold succeeded in 2002, the Conservative MP for Chelmsford, Simon Burns <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/15/communities.politics1">accused</a> Labour ministers in the House of Commons of engaging “in a cynical political fix” to only reward their stronghold towns with the title. After the Tories and the Liberal Democrats joined forces in 2010, the coalition government made <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/14/st-asaph-chelmsford-perth-city-status">Chelmsford</a> a city in 2012, in what would appear to be a direct response to Burns’ criticisms. What began as a royal honour has now become now a tool for <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/88559/3/AHRC_Cultural_Value_KO%20Final.pdf">civic boosterism</a> and for currying political favour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Beckett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To fête the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, several towns – and a few villages – are to be granted the royal right to call themselves cities.John Beckett, Professor of English Regional History, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.