Britain lives on traditions and rituals. This is how they take what was with them into what will be. A change of prime minister must follow a certain rhythm, the choreography after the death of a regent is even tighter and more important. But although ceremonies are important, both to be able to stand together in grief and gather around a new leader, they cannot hide the fact that Britain is facing major challenges that will put the community to the test in the time to come. Queen Elizabeth II tied the country together with the world in a way that King Charles III can hardly manage. But the problems already begin at home. An internal crisis The more a country is united, the easier it is to exercise influence in the world. Britain is struggling on many fronts. The country is facing a major economic crisis. Inflation is rising, energy prices are rising and many of the country’s inhabitants are struggling to make ends meet. A cold winter could create social and political unrest. Although Prime Minister Liz Truss sits safely as long as she has the Conservative Party behind her, she is only elected by the members of the party. She does not have the same legitimacy as her predecessor Boris Johnson. After all, he could lean on his superior election victory until the scandals caught up with him. At the same time, Great Britain is cracking at the joints. In Scotland, a new referendum on independence is being advocated again. The Brexit agreement raises the question of how the border between the Republic of Ireland and British Northern Ireland should be handled. Without Queen Elizabeth as head of state, these conflicts could become even more acute. King Charles will have to do a job to keep the Union together. The relationship with Europe Great Britain has also throughout history struggled to find its place in Europe. Brexit should provide a clear and simple answer: Denunciation of the EU and national control. The problem is that Europe is so intertwined that any clean break is impossible to achieve without significant costs. As the weaker party, this hits the UK harder than the EU. A first test of how the relationship will continue will come around the handling of the Brexit agreement and the issue of Northern Ireland. At the same time, tensions are bubbling with close allied individual countries. The security cooperation with France, for example, is still important, but during the election campaign Truss was unable to say whether the neighboring country was a friend or an enemy. It might have been a cheap point for nationalist party members, but this kind of thing inevitably leaves its mark. Here, too, Queen Elizabeth has played a conciliatory role. Her relationship with France was strong. She understood the story, yes, she was the story. President Emmanuel Macron’s laudatory and warm words about her show how she built a bridge over the tense political relationship and helped bind the two allies together. Her love for France was reciprocated Through his office, King Charles will also be able to do something of the same, but without the history the Queen brought with him. It will be difficult to measure up against a queen who had met no less than 10 French presidents – and to have greeted the national treasure Edith Piaf as a 22-year-old. Relations with the rest of the world The war in Ukraine naturally affects Europe, but also world politics. Here, Liz Truss as foreign minister under Boris Johnsen took a tough line against Russia. It was appreciated in Kyiv and she will apparently continue with that policy. It also opens the door for closer cooperation with the United States, which is always a goal of British foreign policy. However, how much capacity the country has to play a role in the rest of the world is uncertain. The Brexit supporters liked to talk about whether the withdrawal from the EU would open up a greater role in the rest of the world and talked about a Global Britain. Exactly how that vision will be put into practice has not been very clear, but the Queen was a trump card that ensured British influence almost everywhere in the world. It was, for example, her that Donald Trump seemed most eager to meet, not the then prime minister. Former President of the United States, Donald Trump, toasts here with Queen Elizabeth during a palace dinner at Buckingham Palace in 2019. Photo: Reuters / NTB Taking a longer historical look back, Queen Elizabeth was head of state at a time when Great Britain has gradually lost influence in the world. Among other things, the British army fought a brutal colonial war in Kenya and suffered defeat in the Suez War while the British Empire gradually disintegrated. Not everywhere in the world is she remembered with such overwhelming sympathy as in the West. She still managed to be a kind of rallying point for her own population and help ensure that British power did not disappear completely in the countries they left. The Queen, and now the King, remains head of state for 15 countries and leads the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 countries that share a common language and to some extent a common culture from the British Empire. In time to come we will get a better idea of how much Queen Elizabeth personally meant to keeping these countries in a British sphere of influence. It would not be surprising if a stronger monarchy debate emerged in, for example, Australia or Canada. In grief over the Queen’s passing, Prime Minister Liz Truss and King Charles must each prepare the future for their people in their own way. It is no exaggeration to say that they both face a difficult task.
ttn-69
Queen Elizabeth is dead. Now what, UK? – Speech
