And then there were 15

Muse #313 - the not so useful commonwealth

Federation Celebrations, 'Opening of the First Parliament of the (original) Commonwealth', Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 9th May 1901 which was reconstituted later on Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/lzWbkaIjVKg

Barbados became a republic today cutting its sovereign ties with the Queen and the UK though continuing to be part of the Commonwealth. And that leaves just 15 countries under the Queen, Canada where I live, Australia and New Zealand, the three of the largest of them.

I moved from one Commonwealth country India to become a citizen of another, Canada, during the course of my lifetime. I also lived as a permanent resident in another Commonwealth for a few years. Singapore. Which was once a British Colony. So I have had a bit of my ties with the UK - the English education thanks to the legacy left by British-ruled India. My high school was built by Robert Stanes amongst the variety of business and school projects that he promoted.

And the list is going down slowly. Australia might the next to leave the royalty behind and I predict that Canada too, in my lifetime might and I hope to be here to see it.

Change is inevitable and the colonization and monarchy from the past are making their slow exit to their eventual conclusion and sunset. Not that democracy by itself is a better option, it does have its own flaws. I will leave you with a Churchill quote:

‘Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’

Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947