的死亡伊丽莎白女王二世经过70年的统治，查理三世国王登基标志着一个时代的结束。
随着英国在位时间最长的君主在地缘政治和社会规范发生结构性变化的时期去世，以及王室受到丑闻的冲击，许多人现在都在想:英国君主制的下一步是什么?
尤其是对君主制与殖民主义的联系以及它所延续的不公正的批评-YouGov的一项民意调查显示，英国年轻人的支持率正在下降-重新点燃了关于君主制的未来及其在现代的目的的难题。
“你不能想到英国民族主义，你必须想到英国帝国民族主义。哈佛大学教授、《暴力的遗产:大英帝国的历史》一书的作者卡罗琳·埃尔金斯说。
在1921年左右的帝国鼎盛时期，英国殖民了地球上大约四分之一的土地，导致这个帝国被描述为一个日不落的帝国。
当伊丽莎白二世女王于1952年成为女王时，英国统治着70多块领土——其中许多是英国在独立斗争中失去或放弃的，包括在致命的冲突中。
学者们详细描述的暴行之一是20世纪50年代末肯尼亚为脱离英国统治独立而举行的茅茅起义，这也是在女王伊丽莎白二世去世后批评家们再次强调的。
根据埃尔金的书《英国的古拉格:帝国在肯尼亚的残酷终结》(British ' s Gulag:The hardly End of Empire in Kenya)，一些历史学家估计，在肯尼亚土地和自由军(被称为茅茅军)与英国当局之间的冲突中，可能有多达10万人在拘留营中丧生
根据2013年达成和解的针对英国政府的集体诉讼，数千名肯尼亚人提出了起义期间英国殖民部队在集中营实施酷刑、监禁和强奸的指控。
埃尔金斯说:“从丘吉尔开始，历任首相都对议会撒谎，对公众撒谎，掩盖了所有这些事情。”他指出，君主制可能已经瞥见了帝国主义下的系统性酷刑。
"也就是说，在延续帝王仁慈的形象方面，君主扮演了什么角色?"埃尔金斯说。“相当大。”
许多前殖民地不是在遥远的过去，而是在20世纪才从大英帝国获得独立。
印度于1947年独立，肯尼亚于1963年独立，尼日利亚于1960年独立。由于英国的干涉，一些国家在争取独立后经历了国内冲突，据报道据历史学家称，导致了数千人死亡。
霍华德大学(Howard University)非洲研究教授穆罕默德·s·卡马拉(Mohamed S. Camara)说，“欧洲来了，并分割了非洲，而没有考虑不同社区、种族实体等的身份、价值观、差异和共性。”。他还提到了印度的例子。“我们今天有这样的反响。”
对于那些前殖民地的一些人来说，伊丽莎白二世女王的统治与压迫联系在一起。
卡马拉说:“无论是在非洲，还是在东南亚……那些经历过这些的国家的人民不会忘记，他们希望看到真正的变化发生。”。
“我不认为历史上有任何其他形式的侵犯人权行为可以等同于奴役，”他补充说，“将一个人变成另一个人的财产，更不用说将整个民族变成另一个民族或另一个国家的财产了。”
在剑桥公爵和公爵夫人今年3月前往加勒比海和中美洲庆祝女王之前，一些牙买加领导人要求奴隶制赔偿，伯利兹当地的反对迫使他们取消了行程。
组成英联邦的一些国家也表示，他们希望放弃君主制作为国家元首，以实现从英国统治下真正独立，牙买加正在朝着这一目标前进。
他们仍然可以成为英联邦的一部分，而不是以英国君主制为首脑。
“我想明确地说，正如我以前说过的那样，每个成员的宪政安排，无论是共和制还是君主制，都纯粹是每个成员国自己决定的事情，”时任查尔斯王子在2022年英联邦政府首脑会议期间表示。“长寿的好处让我体会到，这样的安排可以平静地、不带怨恨地改变。”
埃尔金斯说，虽然王室很少道歉，但女王确实经常向君主制的反对者“伸出手”，比如在爱尔兰，女王与一名前爱尔兰共和军指挥官握手。
爱尔兰共和军反抗英国统治，并对女王的堂兄路易斯·蒙巴顿勋爵的死负有责任。
随着国王查理三世登上王位，历史学家表示，王室有可能重新开始，为过去的不公正寻求赎罪，并标志着王室的新时代。
2015年6月24日，伊丽莎白女王抵达柏林贝尔维尤宫参加国宴，这是这对皇室夫妇对德国为期四天的访问的第二站。
肖恩·盖洛普/盖蒂图片社
“毫无疑问，君主制从奴隶贸易中获得了经济利益。毫无疑问，作为一个机构，他们从帝国的声望中受益匪浅，”埃尔金斯说。
“你是一个多元文化国家的君主，必须面对过去，”她提到查理三世国王面临的任务。“如果你真的对君主制的未来抱有希望，你必须解决这个问题。”
王室专家和系谱学家Myko Clelland曾与王室密切合作，出版他们的数字化记录，他说，尽管查理三世国王在一个与他母亲完全不同的时间进入，君主制的作用仍然是一个表面上非政治化的角色。
“君主的宪法作用与政治是分开的，”柯蓝说。
查理三世国王在他作为国王的第一次演讲中指出了时代的变化:“当女王登基时，英国和世界仍在应对贫困和第二次世界大战的后果，仍按照早期的习俗生活。”
他继续说，“在过去的70年中，我们看到我们的社会成为一个多文化和多信仰的社会。国家的机构也发生了变化。”
查理三世国王对政治直言不讳，这是过去的君主政体领导人所没有的。多年来，他一直发表评论，反对气候不公、严格的移民政策、奴役等等。
然而，克莱兰预测查理三世国王不一定会改变君主作为象征性领袖的角色，而是“英国的心脏和灵魂，而不是机器，也不是权力的杠杆。”
“人们担心他可能会试图干涉政府，但皇家特权说，这些权力已经成为历史，让君主制凌驾于政治之上是一种保持其生存的方式，”克伦兰说。
Death of Queen Elizabeth II prompts debate about the monarchy’s legacy, future
The death ofQueen Elizabeth IIafter a 70-year reign and the ascension of King Charles III to the throne marks the end of an era.
With the passing of Britain's longest-reigning sovereign during a period that saw tectonic shifts in geopolitics and social norms, as well as a royal family rocked by scandal, many are now left wondering: what's next for the British monarchy?
Criticism, in particular, about the monarchy's link to colonialism and the lasting injustices it perpetuated --and waning support among younger Britons, according to a YouGov poll-- have reignited difficult questions about the future of the monarchy and its purpose in modern times.
"You cannot think of British nationalism, you have to think of British imperial nationalism. And in the center of that is the monarchy," said Caroline Elkins, a professor at Harvard University and author of "Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire."
At the empire's peak around 1921, the British colonized around a quarter of the land on Earth, leading to a description of the empire as one on which the sun never sets.
When Queen Elizabeth II became queen in 1952, Britain ruled over more than 70 territories – many of which Britain would lose or relinquish in struggles for independence, including in deadly conflicts.
One of the atrocities that scholars have detailed -- and that critics have again highlighted in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's passing -- was Kenya's Mau Mau uprising for independence from British rule in the late 1950s.
Some historians estimate that there could have been up to 100,000 people killed in detention camps during the clashes between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities, according to Elkin's book, "Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya."
According to a class action lawsuit against the U.K. government settled in 2013, thousands of Kenyans raised claims of torture, imprisonment and rape by British colonial forces in concentration camps during the uprising.
"The successive prime ministers – from Churchill on down – lied to Parliament, lied to the public, covered all this stuff up," said Elkins, noting the monarchy likely had glimpses into the systematic torture under its imperialism.
"That said, what's been the monarch's role in perpetuating an image of imperial benevolence?" Elkins said. "Pretty huge."
Many former colonies gained their independence from the British empire not in the distant past, but in the 20th century.
India gained its independence in 1947, Kenya in 1963 and Nigeria in 1960. Several countries experienced civil conflicts following their fight for independence due to British interference that reportedlyled to thousands of deaths, according to historians.
“Europe came and divided Africa without taking into consideration the identity, the values, the differences and commonalities of different communities, ethnic entities, and so on,” said Mohamed S. Camara, professor of African Studies at Howard University. He also pointed to examples of this in India. “And we have repercussions of that today.”
For some people in those former colonies, Queen Elizabeth II's rule is associated with oppression.
“Whether it's in Africa, or in Southeast Asia … the people whose countries went through that will not forget and would like to see serious change happen,” Camara said.
"I don't think there is any other form of violation of human rights in history that can equal to enslavement," he added, "the transformation of a human being to the property of another man, let alone the transformation of an entire people into the property of another people or another state."
Ahead of a trip by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Caribbean and Central America in March of this year to celebrate the queen, some Jamaican leaders demanded slavery reparations and local opposition in Belize forced them to cancel a trip.
Some of the countries that make up the Commonwealth have also signaled that they want to drop the monarchy as the head of state to achieve true independence from British rule, which Jamaica is moving toward.
They can still be a part of the Commonwealth without the British monarchy as the head.
“I want to say clearly, as I have said before, that each member’s constitutional arrangement, as republic or monarchy, is purely a matter for each member country to decide," said then-Prince Charles during the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. "The benefit of long life brings me the experience that arrangements such as these can change, calmly and without rancour.”
Though there have been few apologies given from the royal family, the queen did often "extend a hand" to opponents of the monarchy, such as in Ireland, when the queen shook the hand of a former Irish Republican Army commander, Elkins said.
The IRA fought against British rule and was responsible for the death of the queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten.
With King Charles III now on the throne, historians say there's potential for the monarchy to make a fresh start in seeking atonement for past injustices and signal a new era for the royal family.
"There's no question that [the monarchy has] benefited financially from the trade of enslaved people. And there's no question that they as an institution benefited enormously from the prestige of the empire," Elkins said.
"You are the monarch of a multicultural nation that must come to terms with the past," she noted of the task facing King Charles III. "And if you really have a hope for the future of the monarchy, you must solve this."
Myko Clelland, a royal expert and genealogist who worked closely with the Royal Household on the publication of their digitized records, says that even though King Charles III is entering at a vastly different time than his mother, the role of the monarchy remains an outwardly apolitical one.
"The constitutional role of the monarchy is separate from politics," Clelland said.
King Charles III pointed to the changing times in his first speech as king: "When The Queen came to the throne, Britain and the world were still coping with the privations and aftermath of the Second World War, and still living by the conventions of earlier times."
He continued, "In the course of the last 70 years we have seen our society become one of many cultures and many faiths. The institutions of the State have changed in turn."
King Charles III has been outspoken about politics in a way that past leaders of the monarchy have not. He's made comments through the years taking stances against climate injustice, strict immigration policy, enslavement and more.
However, Clelland predicts King Charles III may not necessarily change the monarch's role as a figurehead intended to be "the heart and the soul of Britain, not the apparatus, not the machinery or the levers of power."
"People worry that he might try to meddle in government, but that royal prerogative says that those powers have slipped into history, and that keeping the monarchy above politics is a way that keeps their survival," Clelland said.
