View from the Hill, Troth Yeddha’ - Elizabeth II: Colonizer, Historical Artifact, Or Something Else?
By Kathy Kitts
Queen Elizabeth II died September 8, 2022. Eleven days later, after a procession viewed by more than two million along the parade route and an estimated four billion internationally, she was laid to rest at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Since then, the news has been flooded with her likeness at various stages of life, from a young girl working in an airplane factory during WWII to a ninety-six year old dowager celebrating her Platinum Jubilee celebrating seventy years on the throne –the longest recorded reign in British history.
From goofy internet memes to the cover of Time magazine, her carefully curated photograph can be seen looking serenely into the distance, but what will her legacy be? The last monarch of a bygone era? The face of colonization and destruction of native cultures and the plundering of their resources? A crafty politician whose job was more PR than philanthropy? Or something else?
At one extreme, Uju Anya, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying.” She added, “May her pain be excruciating.” The tweet has since been removed by Twitter for violating their Terms of Service, but not before the professor received an onslaught of criticism for her lack of empathy. Anya’s account was flooded with thousands of hate-filled messages attacking her personally. However, she has not backed down and continues to post links to articles describing the horrible impacts of both general colonization and of the British Empire specifically. In a still visible tweet she states, “If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.”
While the horrific effects of colonization are well known and understood here in Alaska, many point out that the late Queen Elizabeth was not responsible for the system she was born into, and that she even assisted in raising over two billion dollars for approximately six hundred non-profits. This point begs the question: how much redemption can one woman buy?
It is naïve to think that a 21st century British monarch has any real power to form political policy. The late Queen opposed Brexit and it had made no difference. As for the argument about her wealth, The Sunday Times estimated her personal assets to be worth £370 million ($426 million) while Forbes estimated them closer to $500 million (£446 million). The latter is only 0.36 percent of Jeff Bezos’ $137.8 billion. Additionally, it is worth noting that the late Queen’s assets weren’t exactly liquid because they weren’t exactly hers to sell. The new King Charles III won’t be posting a sign outside Windsor claiming, “Estate Sale: Pre-owned castle. Inquire within.”
Where do I fall on this spectrum? Filthy barbarian who raped and pillaged or dottering old lady who donated to a lot of charities? I fall somewhere else. Someplace personal. Ultimately, our views on people, famous, political, or otherwise, are always personal. I will mourn. Why? Because the Queen and my mother looked like sisters. My mom also worked for the war effort. She also wore her hair pin-curled. She, too, loved those ridiculous clamshell purses worn at the crook of the elbow, the color of which must match the shoes.
My dad is still alive at ninety-eight. He was recently invited to be a part of the Living History project at the Smithsonian. He was flown to DC and interviewed. There is an urgency to the project because there are so few people remaining from that period of history. And now, we are down one more.
The Queen is dead. Long live the King.