![]() ![]() ![]() State institutions, prestigious businesses, elite private schools, media outlets, entire industrial cities and many wealthy clans - including the monarchy - are being shown to have taken part in commissioning, organizing, funding and/or profiting from centuries of human trafficking. However, it is difficult to buy into this parading of cherished diversity fully when report after report has revealed the shocking levels of systemic racism that blight every aspect of life for underserved minority communities in the UK, from maternity care to education and policing.Īt the same time, new historical research (much of which has been carried out by The Guardian newspaper) is highlighting a spider’s web of direct links between the transatlantic slave trade and many of the pillars of British society. The coronation ceremony, updated to include the leaders of a range of faiths and attended by guests of various ethnicities, was carefully orchestrated to reflect what Buckingham Palace has called “ the modern, diverse Britain.” This is especially true of those whose skin is Black or brown and of their allies in the struggle for racial equality. ![]() I know many of my close British friends and colleagues are pondering that very question. Opinion: King Charles is making his subjects pay for his vanity party. King Charles III at the 200th Sovereign's parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in April, 2023. Although plenty of citizens won’t let growing levels of apathy about the monarchy and its rituals prevent them enjoying some good-natured coronation events through Monday, some may well ask themselves what it actually means to be British in 2023. The British monarch is, in theory at least, a neutral figurehead with no political affiliations, no manifesto and no discernible allegiance to any side in the so-called culture wars.Īs such, Charles must have hoped that these three days of coronation celebrations would enable the 150 million inhabitants of the UK and 14 other Commonwealth realms over which he reigns to revel in a shared sense of identity and destiny. But have they? In the four nations of the UK and farther afield, reactions to Saturday’s spectacular ceremony appear to have ranged widely from bemused indifference to proud delight to downright outrage.įor many British people, exasperated by recent royal controversies and scandals such as those involving Princes Harry and Andrew and distracted by a devastating cost of living crisis, the most important moment in Charles’ life will have had little or no impact on theirs. For King Charles III, his coronation Saturday at London’s Westminster Abbey was the culmination of a lifetime spent preparing to ascend to the throne. ![]()
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