By Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who had a stellar career as Commonwealth Secretary General for 10 years, met with Queen Elizabeth II, a lot of times. In this interview with AriseTV, he spoke on the demise of the Queen, his personal encounters and the warm side of the monarch beyond her public image and why he thinks King Charles III, will not disappoint.
You met with the Queen a lot of times. What are your personal recollections, some of the conversations, the rich memories you had with her majesty?
Well, the Queen was an exceptional Head of the Commonwealth Association. She was hugely dedicated to the Commonwealth and Heads of Government of the Commonwealth returned that dedication, with enormous respect and admiration. I of course, had the audiences with her fairly regularly during my 10 years as Secretary General and I also interacted with her at Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings. She was a remarkable raconteur and had a very personal aspect to her character.
I can tell you one little story. When I hosted the reception with my wife, on Commonwealth Day, I presented my youngest son to her. And she asked him what he did. And my son said he was a student at Birmingham University. And the Queen said to him, well, I’m coming to your university in three weeks time to join you in the celebration of your 150th anniversary. Whereupon my son said, yes, Your Majesty, we’re all greatly looking forward to your visit. This was on a Monday, and two days later on Wednesday, the vice chancellor’s office in Birmingham received a telephone call from Buckingham Palace; to say that Her Majesty the Queen would like young Anyaoku at the lunch that the Vice Chancellor at the University were going to host for her. This was a very caring personal side of Her Majesty.
But on the official side, she took responsibility for the Commonwealth very seriously. She had audiences with heads of government, and of course with the Secretary General. And in those audiences, she showed remarkable wisdom and patience and had a very unusual knowledge of major events in Commonwealth countries. So she will be greatly missed throughout the Commonwealth.
Will you say that the golden age of the British Monarchy has passed because she was such a towering figure, stabilising factor. And now, people are talking about the future of the Commonwealth, the future of the monarchy?
No. On the contrary, I would say that the British Monarchy for the United Kingdom remains a very special asset for the country. She’s a rallying point and symbol of the country’s unity and progress. And in the Commonwealth, the heads of government at their meeting in 2018 unanimously agreed that King Charles III as he has now become, will assume responsibility as the symbolic head of the Commonwealth. And I believe that King Charles when he was Prince of Wales, identified with the Commonwealth, I once as Secretary General hosted a lunch for him and the Commonwealth High Commissioners in London, just the High Commissioners and himself and I had asked him to speak to the High Commissioners without worrying about the media; there will be no media presence. And he displayed great knowledge and care for the Commonwealth.
I think that the heads of government that have decided that he should continue to assume the responsibility of headship of the Commonwealth will relate amiably with him, and the future of the Commonwealth is assured.
Indeed, very recently, two new members Gabon and Togo applied and were received as members of the Commonwealth. So, the Commonwealth is growing.
And those recent entrants are those who had no historical ties to the British Empire, yet sought to join that committee of nations. So it shows continued relevance of the Commonwealth. However, there are criticisms that the Commonwealth is merely the British Empire version 2.0. How would you address those criticisms?
Well, the Commonwealth in1949, ceased to be the British Commonwealth, it became in 1949 by a special declaration, known as the London declaration, the Commonwealth of Nations. So it has become an international organization and international grouping, which, although still dominated by countries that had the colonial association with the UK, but there had been other members that were not associated with the United Kingdom, as colonies that have become members of the Commonwealth. Mozambique, for example, Namibia, for another example, these countries join the Commonwealth on their own accord, and have been playing an important role in the Commonwealth. So the Commonwealth is no longer a shadow of the British Empire, it is now an independent, international organization. And that’s why countries that didn’t have colonial association with the United Kingdom have been welcomed into the membership of the Commonwealth.
Still on the future of the monarchy when you look at it, there’s been a lot of push as regards republicanism. The countries of the Queen as head of state, countries like Australia are beginning to look at the way of republicanism. And also even in Britain itself, there’s been a lot of darts thrown at the monarchy. For example, at the Queen’s silver jubilee celebration, there was that infamous song by The Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen”. A lot of people are beginning to ask again that in modern society, is there a need for monarchy. What would you say about all of that?
Well, I think you’re bound to have people who question and are critical of the established status quo. But by and large, the British population still believe in the relevance of their monarch. Because you say that, globally speaking, Republicanism exists in more countries than not. That is true. But every country has its own special constitution and special character. The character of the British people is to have the monarch as the symbol of their unity, the symbol of their identity as a country, and that is not going to change in the foreseeable future because politicians have their role to play in the United Kingdom. But in terms of representing the country, being a symbol of the country, I don’t think that any British politician would ever assume that responsibility because British politics is played on the platforms of several political parties, and it’s not likely that we’ll get a leader from a political party who would be universally accepted as a symbol of the nation in UK. And that’s why a number of Commonwealth countries, I think about 16 of them, still find value in retaining the British monarch as their Head of state.
So I would say that the future of the monarchy in the UK is assured. I was in the UK in June, for the celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. And it was most impressive, the people who voluntarily organized street parties all over the country, the country was celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, her 70 years on the throne, and there was no sign of a dissenting or critical voice. So, I would say that the place of the monarch in the UK is assured for the foreseeable future.
Well, it’s good to refer to King Charles III, and the Commonwealth leaders saying they could carry on after his mom but will he be able to command the same level of respect? Will he also be able to maintain the same level of political neutrality that the Queen was noted for?
Well, I think that respect for the headship of the Commonwealth grows. The Queen did not start in 1952 commanding the respect that she ended up commanding, it was built up over the period in her relationship, personal relationship with the Commonwealth Heads of Government. And I would expect that King Charles III, would embark on nurturing his relations with Commonwealth Heads of Government, and will in due course, earn their respect and admiration in the same way as the Queen had, but of course, the Queen is a different human being from King Charles III. The Queen was a particularly warm, humorous and serious character, I believe that King Charles III, has the same attributes and will over time, use the same attributes in a nurturing relationship with Commonwealth Heads of Government and will like the Queen, I believe, to visit Commonwealth countries.
The Queen had the remarkable record of having visited all the 54 Commonwealth countries that there were, during my time as Secretary General, she was able to visit all 54 member countries of the Commonwealth. I’m sure that King Charles the third would want to do the same. And we’ll need to do the same over the long period that I expect God willing, he will reign in the United Kingdom.
What else do you think we might see in the reign of King Charles III, you will recall the scandal over the black spider memos name for his handwriting when he took it upon himself as Prince of Wales to send unsolicited opinions to government officials, which was politically scandalous because the royal family is supposed to be politically neutral. Has he learnt his lesson? Might he try to interfere more often in those weekly sessions with whoever the Prime Minister might be? Also, he’s been an environmental activist for the past 50 years long before it was trendy. Might he try to influence policy in that regard, and also the Prince’s Trust has clearly meant a lot to him, might he try and also influence policy along those lines. What do you think of his reign as King Charles III?
I would expect and hope that he will follow in his mother’s footsteps of absolute neutrality on political issues in the United Kingdom. Before he ascended to the throne, he had the liberty of expressing his personal opinion on various issues, whether its environment, the buildings and architecture in the United Kingdom, and even on issues of race, expressing his own views. But becoming the King, I’m sure he would know that the British people will not expect him to delve into British politics. And from my knowledge of him, because I did have some close association with him, I’m sure that he is intelligent enough to know that that would not be acceptable. And I don’t think he would.
Also, in looking at King Charles III, how will he navigate through those scandals. Example is the Arab money rao, for instance, you know, the 3 million pounds in a bag row? And all the scandals like that were in the papers. That was shocking when that broke, and he is a king today. And also the row of collecting money from families relating to Bin Ladin and the likes, and all of that?
No, I think of course, the media tends to be sensationalist in approach. The Charity Commission of the United Kingdom said they found nothing illegal, nothing really untoward in having collected a donation from an Arab Sheikh.
And that donation from a group remotely associated with Bin Laden, was a donation made with goodwill, and the Prince’s Trust was not aware of the connection with Bin Laden when they accepted the donation. But as I said, I’m sure that King Charles III will handle these so-called scandals, with wisdom and discretion, and that he will not get involved in any politically controversial matter in the UK.
Talking about the future of the monarchy, it is being speculated that the future of the monarchy will not be the same again, not just in the UK and you have said that the British will always love their monarchy. But the Queen was Head of state in 14 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, do you foresee a situation whereby with the rise of republicanism, more of these countries will say, well, we don’t want the King of England to remain our Head of state. Do you see that happening to King Charles III?
Well, I certainly would see the possibility of more countries opting for their own national heads of state. That is likely to happen in countries even like Jamaica and a few other Caribbean countries that still have the British monarch as head of state, but that will not impact adversely on the Commonwealth because, as I said, in 1949, the modern Commonwealth was created by the London declaration, and that was when India and Pakistan decided on attaining their independence to remain members of the Commonwealth. And they had Republican heads of state and the Republicanism was reconciled then with Commonwealth membership, and that has remained. So it really no longer matters at all. Whether a country is Republican, country with a Republican head of state, or not, they’re all members of the Commonwealth. And I would think that, as far as the Commonwealth is concerned, that will not matter. But as far as the position of the monarchy in UK is concerned, UK is not alone. I can’t see a country like Japan, for example, ceasing to be a country with a monarchy. Japan, like the United Kingdom, reveres its monarchy, and I believe remains even in Europe. I think that a country like Spain will remain, and some of the Scandinavian countries will remain monarchical. And so it depends on each country expecting its own constitutional arrangement and adopting its own constitutional arrangement. And for countries that have thrived on retaining the monarchy, many of them will continue to do so.
What role do you foresee for the King Consort Camilla? The Queen expressly approved her title, obviously, before her passing? I am sure a lot of people would never have imagined that they will get here but here we are?
Well, I think the King’s Consort has had an interesting history. The King’s Consort that Camilla has had an interesting history. But she began not as the consort of the heir apparent but gradually, earned that title, which was confirmed by Her Majesty herself, and I would see her playing the role in practical terms of the Queen. Queen, meaning the wife of the reigning King as the Queen Mother was, I would see her in terms of duties and official engagements playing that role but retaining the title of the King’s Consort.
How will this new King manage family squabbles? The Queen was trying to manage just before she passed, we saw what happened to Prince Andrew. And now the Queen had to pay some money on his behalf. We also see what’s happening over the pond in America in California, with the famous Oprah Winfrey interview and all of that. How is this new King Charles III going to manage all of that because they will definitely come to the front burner?
Yes, I think that the squabbles as you call them in the royal family, pose a few challenges. But late Prince Philip and the Queen handled those challenges, in my view very well. I think that King Charles III will continue in the same vein. We will see how the relationship and role of Prince Andrew pans out. At the moment of course, you know, he is in virtual isolation from royal duties. But I would not be surprised if over time, he returns to some royal duties. And I believe that King Charles III will be able to manage the relations. The relations within the royal family, including relations with his second son, Prince Harry, I think that he’ll be able to do so because his parents succeeded in managing what they called the firm and his influence and wisdom would enable him to do the same.