Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday, Thursday 8 September, at 96-years-old. Her son ascends to the throne, and will be crowned King Charles III. Elizabeth II could be the last Queen of England. Here’s why.
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The last Queen of England?
The next three heirs to the throne are all male, King Charles III, Prince William, and Prince George. That means, the next three generations of monarchs will be Kings, and we won't be seeing another Queen for a long time.That is, if the monarchy survives that long.
Royal-family journalist and author of The Last Queen: Elizabeth II’s Seventy Year Battle to Save the House of Windsor,Clive Irving said, as reported by Glamour:
Looking at the future of the monarchy and the future of the Windsor brood, if you look at the line of succession, it is clearly a male line of succession. The future of the monarchy itself will be decided over the next three to four decades, and it will depend on whether people feel it is relevant to their lives anymore.
Odds are she will be the last queen, because she has [three] male successors in a time when it’s difficult to know what will happen in the future [to the monarchy].
Will the monarchy survive?
It is common knowledge that King Charles III does not enjoy the same popularity as his late mother. Support for the monarchy is also dwindling.
With the Queen's death, British people will be seriously questioning whether maintaining the Royal Family is worth the expense, as reported by the New York Times. Meanwhile, Scotland is pushing for independence. What's more, former colonies in the Caribbean are calling for the removal of the monarch as their Head of State and for Britain to pay slavery reparations, as reported by Reuters.
Last year (2021), Barbados removed the Queen as their Head of State. And after a disastrous royal tour by Prince William and Kate Middleton this year, Jamaica may follow suit. However, both countries remain part of the Commonwealth. David Denny, general secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, from Barbados, said:
We should all work towards removing the royal family as head of state of our nations.
Read more:
⋙ Queen Elizabeth II has died, the longest reigning monarch in British history
⋙ The Queen's death: What will happen now according to Operation London Bridge?