Millions of words have been written about Queen Elizabeth II since her death on September 8th at the age of 96. Her role as Head of the Commonwealth has been of special interest to the 56 countries that form the Commonwealth, not least those in Africa, most of which were at one time part of the British Empire and so directly subject to Her Majesty.
However her death has sparked mixed feelings across Africa, reported Deutsche Welle (9/9), among others, with glowing tributes from many African leaders, but also criticism of the monarch and her country’s colonial legacy. Britain’s longest-serving monarch made several trips to Africa during her 70-year reign, visiting some 20 countries across the continent.
There were certainly many tributes.
The president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, sent the “deepest condolences” of the bloc “to the royal family and the people of the United Kingdom and the countries of the Commonwealth” on the death of the queen. In several African commonwealth countries, official flags flew at half-mast in honour of the late queen.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described her as “an extraordinary & world-renowned public figure who lived a remarkable life. Her life & legacy will be fondly remembered by many around the world. The Queen’s commitment & dedication during her 70 years on the throne remains a noble & virtuous example to the world.”
In Ghana, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the queen will be missed for “her inspiring presence, her calm, her steadiness, and, above all, her great love and belief in the higher purpose of the Commonwealth of Nations, and in its capacity to be a force for good in our world.”
Sanusi Lamido, the 14th emir of Kano, in Nigeria, told Deutsche Welle that the death of the queen was a great loss to the world. “We have all seen her as a great leader, as a world leader. The queen has been an icon, she has been ever present in the lives of most of us,” Lamido said. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were among those expressing condolences for the loss of an “icon.”
Kenya’s president-elect William Ruto on Thursday hailed Queen Elizabeth’s “admirable” leadership of the Commonwealth, paying tribute to the former monarch following her death aged 96. “May her memories continue to inspire us. We join the Commonwealth in mourning and offer our condolences to the Royal Family and the United Kingdom,” said Ruto, who will become Kenya’s fifth president since its independence from Britain in 1963.
But others in Africa were less enthusiastic about mourning the British monarch because of its colonial past.
Hardi Yakubu, a pan-African activist, said the late monarch’s legacy cannot be told without the exploitation and imperialism that was perpetuated in Africa by the British.
“The British monarchy is not a glorious institution, the British monarchy that Queen Elizabeth led and represented is not something to be celebrated,” he said.
The South African opposition political party, Economic Freedom Fighters, said in a statement on Twitter that its members do not mourn the queen’s death “because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africa’s history.”
Her death came at a time when European countries are under pressure to reckon with their colonial histories, atoning for past crimes and returning stolen African artefacts held for years in museums from London and Paris. “The Queen leaves a mixed legacy of the brutal suppression of Kenyans in their own country and mutually beneficial relations,” The Daily Nation, Kenya’s biggest newspaper, wrote in a weekend editorial.
“Reaction to the queen’s death in the former colonies is difficult to gauge, but is likely to be muted. It is also probable — and, in fact, already evident on social media — that the monarch’s death will be met with expressions of anger from some quarters and renewed reflections on the destructiveness of the British Empire,” wrote South Africa’s Daily Maverick.
The BBC covered the highlights of the queen’s relationship with Africa here and in images here, including much-reported events such as her speech to the commonwealth on her 21st birthday in Cape Town, South Africa; the announcement of her father’s death while in Kenya; her dancing with Ghana’s first president Nkrumah; her relationship with Nelson Mandela; and visits to countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
There is vintage footage of some of these events on YouTube: her 21st birthday speech in South Africa here; her father dies while she was in Kenya in 1952 here; her 1961 visit to Ghana here; her state visit to South Africa and meeting Nelson Mandela in 1995 here.
Read other commentary on the queen’s relationship with African countries:
France 24 – Queen’s death ignites debate over Africa’s colonial past here
AlJazeera – Remembering Queen Elizabeth in Zimbabwe here.
Radio France Internationale – Calls in Kenya for UK to return resistance leader’s head here.
Guardian – Queen’s death met with anger as well as grief in Kenya here.
Daily Maverick – The Death of Queen Elizabeth definitively ends the age of empire here.
Guardian – Uju Anya on the Queen, Jeff Bezos and the family history behind her tweet here.
theconversation.com: Queen Elizabeth: monarch who had to adjust to the shift from Empire to Commonwealth here
For further information about the Africa Research Bulletin:
Economic, Financial and Technical Series: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14676346
Political, Social and Cultural Series: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1467825x
