King Charles III and hope of a new era
Reminiscent of the time of his forebear, William the Conqueror in 1066 till modern era, Great Britain’s monarch, King Charles III, was crowned in the same Westminster Abbey in Central London on Saturday, April 6, 2023. Accompanied by perhaps one of the most colourful military parades ever seen in modern history, the new British sovereign mounted the 700 years old throne; grotesquely seating atop a not too Christianly “stone of destiny.” Although, Nigeria’s President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) was among 2200 royals and world leaders invited to join the show-off of pageantry and opulence at the medieval era church, which interestingly is also a graveyard of some of humanity’s most impactful persons, for the first time, millions of people around the world watched the ancient religious ceremonials.
The last time when a king, being his grandfather, King George VI, was crowned in the same venue was in 1936 and the realm was an empire, perhaps the largest political dominion in the world of that day. But during the 70 years reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, that great political entity splintered into at least 56 independent nations now held tenuously together by a loose contrivance of sorts known as ‘The Commonwealth of Nations.’ So today, King Charles is crowned over a lonesome United Kingdom, safe for few voluntary dependencies which still owe direct fealty to the crown atop his head. The question on the minds of diplomats and global watchers, therefore, is what lies beyond the rather idealistic ceremonials and pomp. That is, what does this royal ascension hold for Great Britain, which by all sums is still a great world power, and for the wider human community. This is more especially, as his mother enjoyed tremendous respect and weight on virtually every area of human experience and reality during her long reign.
On coronation day, the visuals of temporal power such as the orb, the sceptre and the 360-year old St Edward’s Crown, all of which were taken away at the last minute before his mother was interred were returned back to King Charles. Thus, symbolising his full imbuement with all human power, allowed by the laws of his country. Perhaps foreseeing his great responsibilities ahead, he had said as part of the ceremonials the words, which by the way never existed in the past, “I come not to be served, but to serve.’’
Though his powers are largely honorific, there is no doubt that his influence on both domestic and world affairs is enormous. It is therefore more likely that this new king who is an undisputed primus inter pares amongst world leaders will bare his fangs in various thematic issues more decidedly than his predecessors. Domestically, he will have to evolve the right stratagems for containing a small but rising wing of the anti-monarchy movement, all of which were sufficiently visible during the coronation extravaganza. Similarly, amongst other members of the Union, that is Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the political movement and notions advocating for sovereign states continue to assume a skyward drift. This has to be handled with great swerve and tact in order to keep the house together.
However, following the recent decision of Barbados which transitioned to a republic on November 30, 2021, and existing moves by others such as Belize to follow suit, the new King has to work harder to maintain the status quo which confers a lot of prestige on his country’s imperial status. In the rest of the realm, there is equal amount of agitation for breakaway by the other 16 sovereign states such as Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and others where the king will still be titular Head of State. Perhaps if the new King smells the coffee right, he may draw parallels with his late mother’s experience. Her inheritance on coronation day was a big empire but confronted by a fervour for decolonisation, she timeously yielded to grant independence to all who so desired.
For the rest of the Commonwealth, King Charles will need to adopt a paternalistic outlook to keep this important, symbolic gathering knit and together into the future. At a time of great demand for common global citizenry, there will be the need to put a human face to the Commonwealth by making its constituent populations, some of whom are amongst the world’s poorest, have more beneficial lure. So beyond sports, cultural exchanges and high-level political interactions, other areas that pertain to social welfare, i.e. health, sanitation, fight against hunger and poverty as well as preferential entry access in terms of visas for qualified persons could be given more assent, certainly these will ignite in a more profound manner, renewed spirit of common destiny.
The king assumes reign at a time that is also very much akin to when his mother found herself in the same role. In her case, it was the season of “Cold War ‘’ and “Détente”; defined by tension and strained nerves between the superpowers. The geo-strategic space is no less certain nowadays. For one, the war in Ukraine which is a major snare on modern civilisation still remains inflamed. Similarly, the relative ease in East-West rivalry which had occurred in the past 40 years and created a propitious atmosphere for more enthusiastic global discourse and engagement now seems to be degenerating back to antimony and contention. So, there will be a great moral burden on the king as it was at the time of his mother to lend some level of quiet persuasive leverage for dialogue, and greater resort to harmonised thoughts.
This is same with respect to the various problematic themes such as climate change, fight against poverty and the question of human migration; all of which the king had previously shown particular interest and engrossment. Also gaining incandescent proportions is the question of uproar over the so-called atrocious legacy of British colonial adventures. In some cases, there are rather chivalrous demands for reparations. Not that all these are new, but the progress in knowledge dissemination have helped to accentuate their importance. Needless to rehash that and other matters would compete for the new king’s attention.
While all join to herald “God save the King”, what is certain is that, like rains which come just before spring, many await, that the reign of King Charles would be a harbinger for a safer, happier and prosperous world for all.
Dr. Igali is a retired ambassador to the Scandinavian countries; Sweden, Denmark and Norway
Punch
