The royals are losing the one thing they cannot inherit

I was on holiday in Botswana when the lurid accusations against Thomas Markle came to light (allegations he denies). The sympathies of the locals were with the alleged victims and Meghan: “That girl,” said Boipelo, a primary school teacher, has a “difficult life. Divorced parents, going between him and her. Marries Harry, all that supposed dirty racism. And his family do nothing to help her when she is hurting, when [the] media are chasing her.” She despaired that our “King and Queen say nothing” in Meghan’s defence these days. Not my King and Queen, I tell her and others. And yes, the hounded couple have barely been safeguarded by the monarch, the other Windsors or palace operators. The late Diana, Princess of Wales, was left largely unprotected too. Andrew was largely shielded by the Queen. But Meghan and Harry, no longer working royals, are fair game. If they can be this callous to their own, do you really believe they value commoners who bow to them? Our monarchy that expects loyalty from its subjects but conspicuously struggles to display any loyalty to those who deserve it. The most recent example is Prince William, a billionaire, who is selling some of his Duchy land and leaving tenant farmers, many royalists, fearing for their homes and livelihoods hard and get by. Their shock is palpable. Charles is in the Caribbean, hoping to revitalise historic attachments to the throne. When William and Kate visited in 2022, they replayed scenes from the bad old days of imperialism. It was a disaster. Included in King Charles’s itinerary this time is a Commonwealth leaders’ meeting. His mum endorsed him to succeed her as the head of this body. The Commonwealth leaders then agreed his appointment. It is moribund, a symbol of post-colonial dependency. It will not survive. It should not survive. Meanwhile, the preposterousness of a British monarch reigning over those isles in the Caribbean is ending. Barbados is already a republic, so too Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.Increasing numbers of modern Caribbeans want a reckoning with the dark history of slavery. Yet, even now, the British Government and establishment withhold a proper apology and will not consider reparations. Do they think sending an aged monarch issuing some tepid words on the immorality of the trade will somehow placate the natives? The monarchy and the men in grey suits are too short-sighted to see how the world is changing. As the Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, rightly observes: “I think it would be wrong to think that we can continue with platitudes.” Charles is facing growing demands in the Caribbean over slavery reparations, demands which will not be assuaged with an apology. A UN resolution, tabled by Ghana, declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. Meanwhile, Jamaica is asking for an answer: does Britain owe it reparations for slavery? The King has referred its petition to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – the London-based court that still serves as Jamaica’s highest court of appeal. A preliminary hearing is due next March. Encouragingly, support for the monarchy has fallen, especially among younger Brits. Additionally, that same cohort are more favourable than older citizens to the beleaguered Meghan and Harry. Here and abroad, the royals are losing their mystique and magic. Fewer people find them awesome; more believe they are greedy and unworthy. The contradictions of the monarchy are becoming too visible to sustain the institution. The edifice will crumble. After that, hopefully, class and race privileges will pass away. I will be gone. But the day will come. Rejoice when it does.