WITH the death of British Queen Elizabeth II in her Scottish castle on Thursday, a major link between the UK’s imperial past and postcolonial present has been broken. For many in the Global South — particularly Asia and Africa — it was during her 70-year reign as monarch that their countries threw off the shackles of European bondage. Pakistan had done so during her father’s reign. Yet this country remained a British dominion from independence to 1956, with the British sovereign serving as head of state, until a republican constitution was adopted. That we still have a long way to go to achieve real republican and democratic governance is another story altogether. Elizabeth II visited Pakistan twice, in 1961 when Gen Ayub Khan was running the show, and in 1997 when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister of this country. During the 1961 visit, the queen remarked that Pakistan was a “power in the Islamic world”. Other members of her family, including now King Charles III as well as his late ex-wife Diana, also visited this country over the decades. After discarding its dominion status, Pakistan remained part of the Commonwealth — the club of British ex-colonies — though Zulfikar Ali Bhutto withdrew Pakistan from the organisation in protest over the recognition of Bangladesh, while the country was suspended twice, in 1999 and 2007, due to Gen Musharraf’s assaults on democracy.

When Elizabeth took the throne following her father George VI’s death in 1952, Britain was a declining empire. Today, the country is a shadow of its former self, having withdrawn from Europe through the Brexit adventure, while the US has replaced it as global hegemon. However, the British sovereign remains the head of several countries, mostly of English-speaking European settler states such as Canada and Australia, though even in these realms there have been serious debates about abandoning the crown in favour of republicanism. With the idea of a monarchy — even a constitutional monarchy — appearing to be archaic in the 21st century, Elizabeth’s son and successor Charles will have to mould the centuries-old institution as per the demands of the democratic age. Elizabeth II dealt with many controversies in her family life, mainly related to her children, with great stoicism, and her symbolic role in steering her country in the post-World War II era has been widely hailed. It remains to be seen whether Charles III will build on and carry forward this legacy.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2022