Queen Elizabeth’s death prompted an outpouring of grief and widespread praise for her 70 years of service as sovereign. However, some dissenting voices have begun to emerge from those who believe the monarchy is outdated and undemocratic. Hours after King Charles was officially crowned monarch at a ceremony in London on Saturday, Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister announced plans for a referendum on whether the islands should retain the monarch as head of state. On Friday, politicians in Australia launched calls for the country to become a democracy as soon as possible, and a petition was launched in Wales to stop the use of the title “Prince of Wales”. Outside St James’s Palace in London during the proclamation ceremony, Anne Baker and her 13-year-old daughter held small signs reading ‘Not my King’ and ‘Democracy Now’. “The head of state is announced without consulting anyone,” Ms Baker said. “We don’t change heads of state until someone dies and I think that’s horrible. This is not humane. It should be civilized and modern.” Charles III is King of Canada. Now what? Latest updates on the royal succession Mrs Baker and her daughter stood out among the thousands of people who gathered to watch the proceedings. Many brought flowers as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth and most joined in a powerful rendition of it god save the king when the service ended. At one point a woman grabbed one of Mrs. Baker’s signs and tore it up. Another man shouted: “There are other countries without a monarchy you can go to.” Mrs. Baker kept her seat. “We believe that Britain is a great country and would be even greater if it could have a full democracy,” he said. There had always been concern among royalists that once the Queen died the future of the monarchy would be uncertain under her successor, King Charles. He is far less popular than other members of the royal family and has caused controversy over the years, meddling in government decision-making and facing problems at his charity. The charity is under police investigation in London over allegations it tried to help a Saudi billionaire gain citizenship and a knighthood in exchange for a donation. “The monarchy has gone through some very difficult times and the Queen has been the heat shield that can deflect a lot of criticism,” said Graham Smith, who heads a London-based political advocacy group called Republic. “But he’s not there anymore and Charles is someone people are only too happy to question and criticize.” While the group kept a low profile in the immediate aftermath of the Queen’s death on Thursday, Mr Smith said it was fair game to protest the proclamation ceremonies, which were also held in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the weekend. “We’ve had two or three days to respond to the Queen’s death and the issue now is that Charles is king,” he said. “And it’s perfectly reasonable to question that.” Like many observers he believes that the most serious challenges to the Crown will come from Caribbean countries. Antigua’s Prime Minister Gaston Brown told reporters that the move away from the monarchy was an important step towards full independence. “This is not an act of hostility or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy, but it is the final step to complete this cycle of independence, to ensure that we are truly a sovereign nation,” he told British television. Other Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas, have also indicated they might break with the Crown and throw away the last vestiges of their colonial past. Last year, Barbados ditched the monarch as head of state, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominica and Mauritius. Australia’s protracted debate on becoming a democracy intensified on Friday when Green Party leader Adam Budd said the country “needs to move forward” now that the queen has died. “We need a treaty with the First Nations people and we need to become a democracy.” Mehreen Faruqi, a Green Party senator in Australia, went further and said: “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on the stolen lives, land and wealth of colonized peoples.” In Britain, there was a subtle discord as the country began a period of mourning for the Queen. “We’re just showing another side,” said Lyn Mererid, as she protested the naming ceremony in Cardiff on Sunday. “All this ceremony does is represent some people, but there are also people who don’t care about the monarchy and don’t think it represents them, and we want to be the voice for those people,” he told reporters. Hours before King Charles announced on Friday that his eldest son, William, would assume the title of Prince of Wales, a petition had been launched to oppose the move, calling it an insult. “The last native prince of Wales was Llywelyn the Last, he was killed by English soldiers in 1282 and his head was then paraded through the streets of London and placed on a spire of the Tower of London,” said the petition, which has been signed by more than 16,000. People. Since then “the title has been held exclusively by Englishmen as a symbol of sovereignty over Wales”. In Quebec, the Queen’s death raises questions about the future of Canada’s monarchy In Belfast, the Sinn Fein leader stayed away from the announcement of the proclamation at Hillsborough Castle in a sign of the party’s long-standing push for the reunification of Northern Ireland and Ireland. “Accession ceremonies are reserved for those whose political allegiance is to the British crown,” said party president Mary Lou McDonald. “Sinn Fein will not be attending these events.” However, Ms McDonald said party officials would attend other events during the mourning period in recognition of “the very positive role the Queen has played in promoting peace and reconciliation between our two islands”. Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was met by a military guard of honor at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland on Sunday (September 11) after a six-hour journey from her country home in the Scottish Highlands. Reuters
