Monarchy and the end of empire : the House of Windsor, the British government, and the post-war Commonwealth / Philip Murphy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murphy, Philip, 1965- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Windsor, House of--Political activity.

Windsor, House of.

Imperialism--Government policy--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Imperialism.

Decolonization--Colonies--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Decolonization.

Monarchy--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Monarchy.

Politics and government.

International relations.

Colonies.

History.

Imperialism--Government policy.

Political participation.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--Commonwealth countries.

Commonwealth countries--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Commonwealth countries.

Commonwealth countries--Politics and government--20th century.

Physical Description:

xiv, 240 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

This unique and meticulously-researched study examines the triangular relationship between the British government, the Palace, and the modern Commonwealth since 1945. It has two principal areas of focus: the monarch's role as sovereign of a series of Commonwealth Realms, and quite separately as head of the Commonwealth. It traces how, in the early part of the twentieth century, the British government promoted the Crown as a counterbalance to the centri-fugal forces that were drawing the Empire apart. Ultimately, however, with newly-independent India's determination to become a republic in the late 1940s, Britain had to accept that allegiance to the Crown could no longer be the common factor binding the Commonwealth together. It therefore devised the notion of the headship of the Commonwealth, as a means of enabling a republican India "to continue to give the monarchy a pivotal symbolic role and therefore to remain in the Commonwealth." In the years of rapid decolonization which followed 1945, it became clear that this elaborate constitutional infrastructure posed significant problems for British foreign policy. The system of Commonwealth Realms was a recipe for confusion and misunderstanding. Policy makers in the UK increasingly saw it as a liability in terms of the Britain's relations with its former colonies, so much so that by the early 1960s they actively sought to persuade African nationalist leaders to adopt republican constitutions on independence. The headship of the Commonwealth also became a cause for concern, partly because it offered opportunities for the monarch to act without ministerial advice, and partly because it tended to tie the British government to what many within the UK began to regard as a largely redundant institution. Philip Murphy employs a large amount of documentary evidence that has never been previously published to argue that the monarchy's relationship with the Commonwealth, which was initially promoted by the UK as a means of strengthening Imperial ties, increasingly became a source of frustration for British foreign policy makers. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Holy Family: An Introduction 1

2 'The Pivot of Empire': Monarchy and the Commonwealth, 1918-1945 16

3 'A Common Act of Will': The Making of the New Commonwealth, 1945-1952 34

4 'A Personal and Living Bond': Accession, Coronation, and Commonwealth Tour, 1952-1954 49

5 Winds of Change and the Royal Family 66

6 'A poor sort of courtesy to Her Majesty': Republics, Realms, and Rebels, 1960-1970 88

7 'A Fragile Flower': Britain and the Headship of the Commonwealth 107

8 A Royal 'Duty': Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings in the 1970s 128

9 'De-Dominionisation' in the 1970s 143

10 'On Her Own': The Queen and the Commonwealth in the 1980s 160

11 The Fall and Rise of the Royal Commonwealth 176.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-233) and index.

ISBN:

9780199214235

0199214239

OCLC:

869428969