Carlos III, head of state of 14 countries in addition to the United Kingdom, received this Sunday the representatives of the Commonwealth kingdoms at Buckingham Palace in London, at a time when republican desires shake certain former British colonies.
The Commonwealth is made up of 56 states, mostly former British colonies, including 15 kingdoms (including the United Kingdom, Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand, and Jamaica), including the monarch who is also the head of state.
On his third day as king, Charles III, head of the Commonwealth, received the secretary general of the organization Patricia Scotland, before receiving the high commissioners of the United Kingdom, a kind of ambassadors, from the different kingdoms.
Loyalty and fidelity
All the countries of the Commonwealth proclaimed Carlos as their new king after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but beyond the certain emotion that the death of the monarch arouses among the 2,500 million inhabitants of these 56 states, some question the ability of Carlos to inspire the same loyalty and fidelity as his mother.
Like the Caribbean island of Barbados, which became a republic last year 55 years after gaining independence from the United Kingdom, others plan to follow the same path.
A significant proportion of Australians want their country to become a Republic, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, although he told Sky News he was not considering a referendum in this direction during his first term.
Transition to republican government
In Canada, Republicans remain in the minority, but a poll published last April showed that 67% of the population were not in favor of Charles succeeding his mother.
And shortly after Carlos was confirmed king of Antigua and Barbuda, the prime minister of this Antillean state, Gaston Brown, announced his intention to organize a referendum “within the next three years.” “This is not a hostile act” towards the monarchy, “but the last step to complete our road to independence,” he assured the British television network ITV.
During Prince William and his wife Kate’s official trip to Jamaica in the spring, during which the couple faced criticism over Britain’s slavery past, Prime Minister Andrew Holness spoke about his country’s transition to a republican regime. .
Source: BFM TV
