I always feel uncomfortable seeing people go into ecstasies over the pomp, the fine clothes, the fairy tales and the gossip associated with the Canadian monarchy. The monarchy is something very serious. It is an institution which has a heavy history and which carries values which are not ours. We shouldn’t celebrate it.
Small note: I write “Canadian” and not “British” monarchy, because I don’t want to imply that we are talking about something distant, something that does not concern us. Charles III is the king of Canada.
So, yes, the monarchy is serious and it is with us. Let’s talk about it.
We could analyze the unnecessary expenses it generates, we could wallow in it happily, but let’s focus on the iceberg rather than its tip.
The British monarchy led the largest colonial operation in human history. In India, in Africa, in China, in America, the victims of monarchical imperialism are legion.
In India, millions of people died of starvation because the UK appropriated local wheat. The Crown waged two wars with China to force the Chinese to consume its opium. In Africa, His Majesty’s armies have brought down entire kingdoms.
In America, English monarchs endorsed the extermination of indigenous peoples by any means. The War of Conquest, exceptionally violent for the time, was one of the first contemporary “total wars”: bombardment of civilians, scorched earth policy (on both banks of the St. Lawrence) – abuses which will leave New France bloodless. Fred Anderson, the great American historian, called the deportation of the Acadians the first operation of “ethnic cleansing” in modern history.
Thanks to the brutality of its royal armies, the Windsor family has entered very high in the list of families slaughtering peoples.
Another angle of analysis: where does this indecent fortune come from?1 who allows our king to dazzle the world?
According to the Indian economist Utsa Patnaik, between 1765 and 1938, the British would have extracted at least 45,000 billion dollars from the Indian subcontinent. This calculation of colonial looting concerns only the Indies… This explains quite easily the 3 billion dollars that Charles III now possesses (in particular his personal collection of stamps worth 168 million).
As it set out to conquer the world, the royal family also made investments in the slave trade, a trade to which it owed part of its current wealth (in its defense, Charles III agreed to open the royal archives on this subject). Another great legacy.
Obviously, all royal income is tax-free, including that which comes from the 239 million invested in the Stock Exchange by the new king.
If the history of the royal family is rich in abuses that must be denounced, royalty also symbolizes values that do not deserve our homage either. Here are some examples.
To choose the monarch, no meritocracy, no democracy, you become head of state because you were born into the right family. The monarchical institution thus perpetuates the idea that all people are not equal, that some are intrinsically superior to others by birth or, in other words, thanks to their blue blood. Toxic idea if there is one.
So you have to be born into the right family, but you also have to choose the right religion. If Queen Elizabeth’s heir had been Catholic, Buddhist or even an atheist, he would have been denied the throne. Indeed, in addition to being king of 14 kingdoms, our head of state is also head of the Anglican Church, so the king must be Anglican to be able to reign.
Nowadays, if the power of the king is essentially ceremonial, the monarch can however use his personality to convey values. In this regard, to get to know him better, I invite you to (re)read this column by Isabelle Hachey2. There is also cause for concern here.
Quebecers are, by far, the most favorable to the abolition of the monarchy. However, to achieve this, it will require the agreement of the House of Commons and that of the 10 provinces. In October 2022, in the House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois was the only federal political party, the only one, to vote for the end of the monarchical link. The breakup is not for tomorrow.
Saturday’s coronation should not be a time for celebration or even entertainment. Of all the bodies that govern us, the Canadian monarchy is the least deserving of celebration. Our institutions should look like us and carry the values that are ours. In this regard, the monarchy should put us to shame.
We will be told that it is never a good time to abolish it, that there is always a more pressing urgency. This is what we were told about the abolition of the oath to the king by the National Assembly. It was not urgent, but, after having done it, we feel much more honest and more proud of who we are.