The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

THE passing of Queen Elizabeth II was one of those moments that rings across public life. Whatever your opinion of the Queen and the monarchy, her death on Thursday marked a change. Sometimes, when such a moment comes, the best thing to do is to listen to what others have to say – so that’s what I did.

It became clear quite quickly there were two sets of reactions – those among people interacting with one another in person, and the reaction on social media.

Take to Bahamian Twitter and there was plenty of vitriol, with the biggest concern being whether or not we’d get a day off in The Bahamas as a result.

Elsewhere, there was plenty of talk of the Queen going to hell rather than heaven, or not caring about her death at all. Then there were the people blaming the Queen for all the ills of colonialism. To put it mildly, there were plenty of people rejoicing the death on social media.

And yet in personal interactions over the past couple of days, there was a different sense.

One woman of older years recalled how as a girl she used to sing God Save The King and remembered how much of a change that was to go through – a change the world is going through now.

We might not be singing that, but there will be changes that will affect us. Already, Queen’s Counsel has changed to King’s Counsel by an automatic process, and there will be other changes too.

Some students I spoke to told of how their classes had been interrupted by a staff member coming in to break the news, and how discussion of it had filled the day, along with speculation over whether the children would watch the funeral at school.

Another Bahamian who had met the Queen when travelling to London to receive an honour talked of how important that meeting had been to them, and how they felt a sense of loss at the news even though, in truth, the Queen has just been a remote, distant figure to most of us.

Then again, there were the pictures in The Tribune on Friday of the Queen’s visits to The Bahamas over the years, and all the people in those pictures alongside her who would have memories of the occasion.

One of those photographs showed the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1985, and one person connected to that event talked of how there was considerable uncertainty at the time over whether or not The Bahamas could pull such an event off. And yet we did, with the Queen in attendance, and the Royal Yacht, Britannia, in port. It was a validation of The Bahamas, a sign that we could hold our own and shine.

Listening down at the bar, there was a sense among those talking about the news that while they didn’t feel the Queen had much to do with us, the work of the Governors General over the years notwithstanding, it was still an occasion to be marked, to remember. The sense of not just a person passing, but a landmark moment in time.

From many, there was goodwill and a wish for the Queen to rest in peace, from others a shrug and a question of what she had done for us.

The Tribune carried an article on Friday with a similar mix of sentiments – Bahamians expressing their condolences. One said the Queen “represented royalty in every aspect of the word”. Another said that “the end of a dynasty has passed”. A pastor talked of how “she did well in service and she always kept integrity”.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham talked of how the Queen was “a symbol of stability” and his amazement at “how normal, and regular an individual she was in person”. He said she had “a storage of information on The Bahamas”.

Former Prime Minister Perry Christie said her unswerving fidelity to duty and service was unsurpassed, and called her “a shining example of personal integrity, steadfastness, courage, grace and dignity”.

Whatever the reaction, the Queen’s death reverberated like a bell through our society. People reached out to others to spread the news. Many felt a sense of change, even if they couldn’t quite put their finger on why it mattered to them.

So the question now will be: What comes next?

The sense of importance that goes with the Queen’s passing is rooted in part in the fact that for many of us, she has simply always been there.

King Charles inherits the throne, but he does not inherit the reputation of his mother. He will have his own relationships, including with The Bahamas. He has visited in the past, and had already agreed to visit for the 50th anniversary year of independence. He will do so now as King, not as Prince.

But will this moment of transition for the monarchy trigger a move towards a transition for The Bahamas? Is now the time to reconsider becoming a republic?

On Friday, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said his administration will let Bahamians decide on that matter. He said he would support the move.

He said: “I will have a referendum and the Bahamian people will have to say to me, ‘yes’.”

His predecessor as both Prime Minister and PLP leader, Mr Christie, said: “The question and challenge now is that the new king, King Charles, will have the role to play that his mother played magnificently and the question will be how effective that will be to keep everything going in the way it has in the past.”

And so here we are, in the wake of one landmark moment, faced with the possibility of another.

We likely wouldn’t be having these conversations yet if the Queen still lived. Perhaps that, as much as anything, shows how important her position was, and the possibility of long-held relationships becoming unglued without the respect for her keeping things together.

It is indeed the passing of an age. How much we take the new age into our own hands, we must wait and see.