For some, Queen Elizabeth II’s death was an end to British glory. But it's also reopened painful wounds: Elizabeth was the face of the British state as she toured domains, but there was violence behind the scenes.
” As queen, Elizabeth’s job was to be the face of the British state as she toured domains and held ceremonies, Jasanoff says.
“Behind the scenes, there were much more violent and bloody kinds of upheavals,” Jasanoff says. “I think it's important that we just bear in mind that the vision, the image that we see, is not the same necessarily as the full picture.” Elizabeth was crowned queen in 1953 in the wake of India and Pakistan’s independence from British rule. Many believed colonialism to be largely over with Elizabeth on the throne, but Jasanoff disagrees. Although a few other nations gained independence, a majority of colonies still remained under the British Empire’s control. Thanks to the imagery Queen Elizabeth purported, Jasanoff says people nowadays believe that transfer of power was peaceful.
Some argue Elizabeth shouldn’t be held responsible for the sins of her ancestors and that she was only a symbolic figurehead with no substantive power. Others also see the monarchy as an apolitical institution, separate from the actions of the British Empire. How people view the monarchy now is the result of hundreds of years of “deliberate fashioning” by the monarchy to produce a specific, favorable image, Jasanoff says.
Increasing conversation surrounding reparations and redress for Britain’s harmful past has only been sparked by a force of events — such as
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