Blog Archives

The Queen is dead. Long Live the King! – By Aubrey Joachim Many of us were born in a country whose Head of State then was Queen Elizabeth II. Ceylon was still a fully-fledged member of the Commonwealth with a Governor General her resident representative in Colombo. In fact the Queen visited Ceylon the year I was born and many would have seen pictures of her Majesty visiting the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. We now live in a country whose Head of State is still the British Monarch. The British Monarchy has existed for over a 1200 years. During this period 61 monarchs have worn the crown. As head of the Commonwealth the Queen was connected to 54 independent nations 14 of whom still have the British Monarch as their Head of State. All of these countries were at some stage a part of the British Empire – the heydays ...