Royal historian Dr Ed Owens suggested the 22nd episode of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham could help bring the 56 member states together at a time of political turmoil. dr. Owens, who wrote “The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public, 1932-1953,” said to me, “I think we have to distinguish the Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games from the response in the Caribbean, which as first and foremost because they no longer want a royal head of state.
“That’s not to say that once they lose their royal head of state, be it the Queen or King Charles III, they won’t remain part of the Commonwealth.
“I think the Commonwealth Games is one of those things that kind of breathe new life into the Commonwealth’s identity.
“It brings this group of 56 countries together in full view of the global public and suggests that there is something fundamental that holds us together, in this case the power of sport, to bring people together, the power of sport as a kind of unifying force.”
Barbados has sent 65 entrants to the tournament, less than a year after it cut ties with the British crown to become a republic in the Caribbean.
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St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which have won just three medals in Commonwealth Games history, are also about to hold a monarchy referendum.
Similar polls could also be taken in Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda.
The royal family was also rocked by anti-colonial and slavery protests when the Cambridges and Wessexes embarked on separate journeys across the Caribbean earlier this year to celebrate the Queen’s platinum anniversary.
Prince William even expressed solidarity with those marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade during a speech to dignitaries in Jamaica.
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