In Kenya (coincidentally, where the former Princess Elizabeth received the news that she would be queen back in 1952, eleven years before Kenya would achieve its independence), the country stumbled through an election that, in the end, proved to be relatively peaceful and a transition of power has ensued.
In the UK, after watching the Conservative party wrangling while we were visiting, they also stumbled through a transition of power from Boris Johnson to their new head of government. The queen appointed 15th British prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, only three days ago – just two days before she died (the first and only time she did not receive a new prime minister at Buckingham Palace during her reign).
* * *
With the exception of my work Twitter account, I am mostly
not on social media. I’m not on Facebook, Instagram, etc. I don’t have time and
I’ve determined that it’s probably not healthy (my work Twitter account is the
exception in that it provides me some important news that I find hard to get
elsewhere). But I’ve heard that, combined with the respectful tributes to the
fallen monarch, there are loads of harsh and nasty things being said about her.
Much of it appears to be the judgement through a present-day lens of a woman
who was born in another time. Not to say that what happened during the time
that she was queen should be excused, I just think that we need to be careful what we attribute to her when
reflecting on her life. She was never responsible for the atrocities of the British Empire nor the ensuing UK foreign policy, both of
which are at the core of most of the criticism I’ve heard. She made some mistakes, as we all do, it's just that some of hers were very public.
* * *
As prince, Charles has never been very popular. It will be
interesting to see how ascending to the throne might impact his popularity given that most have sort of made up their minds about him. I
feel like the Commonwealth has held together largely thanks to the popularity
of, and allegiance to, his mother. Scotland’s future in the UK could also be
raised again. I guess we'll see. He's ascending to the throne at an age that is nearly a half century older than his mother did so he has less of an opportunity to change the narrative.
On a side note, like most of the world, I never met the queen. I did visit Windsor Castle on a private tour while she was apparently in the castle at the time (didn't bump into her or her dogs unfortunately given that her residence was in a separate part of the castle).
Interestingly, I was scheduled to meet Prince Charles on a video call later this
month along with my organization’s CEO and likely a journalist from the BBC to
discuss the severe drought in Somalia. Though I’ve received no official communication
as of yet, now that he is King Charles, I can assume that this call will not
happen. It’s been a lot of work to prepare for a royal virtual visit to a
couple of drought-impacted communities, assuring adequate connectivity, etc.,
but it appears to be all for naught (unless we use it for a different VIP
visitor). Would have been cool to say that I spoke to the king but, alas, it's likely not to be.
In any case, Britain has a king for the first time in 70 years and I do wish him the best.
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