In Bermuda, where flags are being flown half-staff until further notice, they remembered Queen Elizabeth II with a 21-gun salute while dressed in British ceremonial uniforms. In the Cayman Islands, 96 rounds reverberated from Government House, one every 10 seconds, to match the queen’s age at the time of her death Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
And in The Bahamas, where they continue to pledge loyalty to her 49 years after ending nearly 200 years of British rule, the prime minister’s title officially changed from Queen’s Counsel to King’s Counsel.
As the United Kingdom entered a prolonged period of mourning Thursday over the passing of Queen Elizabeth and welcomed a new monarch, King Charles III, the death of Britain’s oldest and longest-serving monarch continued to reverberate in and out of the realm.
In the Caribbean, where Queen Elizabeth served as head of state for six British overseas territories and eight independent island nations — Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines — the death has brought change, fond memories and, for some, a renewed focus on the role of the monarchy in their independent nations.
“Most people didn’t understand we were independent yet we have the queen as head of state,” said Rosalea Hamilton, a Jamaica advocate for slavery reparations and cutting ties with the British monarchy. “So an entire generation who has never lived under the colonial era is beginning to experience dictates about what the change means.
“We’re being told about protocols we now have to follow to transition from a queen to a king; the mourning period; the way the mourning will take place. There are bells being tolled. All of this is new to Jamaica. And it is now raising more discussions about this transition.”
Hamilton said she understands loss, and she understands a nation’s grief. But she also understands the legacy of colonialism: British wealth was built on the backs of enslaved Africans. In Jamaica, sugar was known as “white gold,” and the island, like Barbados, was considered a “jewel” in Britain’s crown. It was a period in history, Hamilton said, in which “the monarch and her family have benefited until today.”
Mixed feelings about the monarch’s death and the transition it has evoked resonated across the Caribbean region Friday. Following confirmation by the Palace that Queen Elizabeth had died peacefully Thursday in the Scottish Highlands, celebrations were canceled and notes of condolences went out from leaders. Regardless of their sentiments about the monarchy or British colonialism, many leaders expressed sadness over the death and the end of an era.
Offering condolences to the royal family and the people of the United Kingdom at the start of a news conference on Friday, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the monarch was in an exclusive club.
“Her majesty’s reign can really reflect a commitment to duty beyond perhaps, very few others,” Mottley said, adding that on her way to meet with journalists, she began reflecting on the changes that have taken place since 1952, when the queen ascended to the British throne. “Her majesty really spanned a reign that went from empire to post-independence.”
Known as “Little England,” Barbados last year cut ties with the British monarch but nevertheless remained in the Commonwealth of Nations after transitioning last November from a parliamentary constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic with a ceremonial president as head of state. The moment came nearly 400 years after English settlers first set foot on the island in 1627. The ceremony was attended by Prince Charles, who upon his mother’s death became king and head of the 56-member Commonwealth of Nations.
In his first official speech as sovereign on Friday, the new king did not mention the debate the transition is stirring. Instead, he reflected on his mother’s leadership as Britain’s oldest and longest serving monarch, and expressed his sorrow.
“Queen Elizabeth’s was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing,” King Charles III said. “In 1947, on her 21st birthday, she pledged in a broadcast from Cape Town to the Commonwealth to devote her life, whether it be short or long, to the service of her peoples. That was more than a promise: it was a profound personal commitment which defined her whole life.”
Still, his ascension to the throne has become an occasion for reflection.
“As much as I would wish to do it, I can’t do it without your consent,” Bahamas Prime Minister Philip E. Davis told the Nassau Guardian on Friday when asked about following in the footsteps of Barbados. Davis was in Nassau signing the nation’s condolence book.
“I would have to have a referendum and the Bahamian people would have to say to me, ‘Yes,’ ” he said.
For others, the queen’s death has been an opportunity to remember her visits.
In the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, islanders noted that the monarch had made four official visits there since coming into power. The island was the first stop on a six-month tour of the Commonwealth by the newly crowned queen after her coronation in 1953. She visited again in 1975, 1994 and in 2009, marking the 400th anniversary of English settlement in the island.
Other territories received only one visit during the queen’s 70-year reign, yet celebrate every year the date of the visit.
Every May, the residents of South Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands, another British Overseas Territory, commemorate the queen’s 1966 visit with a festive regatta featuring pageantry, music and boat races at the very spot they welcomed the queen decades earlier.
Emily Malcolm, a native of the island, was a girl when the queen and her husband, the late Prince Philip, arrived on board the royal yacht for a one-day visit after an overnight trip to the British Virgin Islands. South Caicos, then known as the “Big South,” was the economic engine because of its salt-producing ponds, thriving fishing and sisal industry.
“We formed a line from the salt shed on the road … almost to the end of the road of Caicos Fisheries,” recalled Malcolm, 69, author of the book “Unforgettable Memories of South Caicos.” “When she came on board, there were three wharfs. She came to the middle and my father had built a step for her to step on.”
The queen was greeted by community leaders as well as the heads of the Baptist and Anglican faiths. She was handed a bouquet of flowers and given a conch shell. As she toured the small island, the monarch and her husband were introduced to other leaders from the neighboring Caicos islands and Providenciales, and introduced to the native arts and crafts, slippers and hats made of sisal.
A donkey race was held for entertainment, Malcolm said. “There were about five or so donkeys.” Local fishermen also greeted the queen with the first catch of lobster, laying it at her feet during the visit.
“I was really shocked when I heard she had passed because over the years, she had been so strong,” Malcolm said. “When I think about her and all that she went through... she was a level-headed woman. You would never hear her make any remarks detrimental to anybody, or to any situation. That is the one thing I admired about her.”
Recalling the queen’s demeanor upon the passing of Princess Diana, Malcolm said: “You didn’t know if she was angry or upset, the way she conducted herself... You could see she thinks about people and their feelings. I really appreciated that about her.”
Malcolm said she knows that not everyone is fond of the British monarchy and “some people think they take advantage of us, but I think she has been an icon for women and for the world to emulate when you watch her style of governance and exercise of power.”
