Can the U.K. Remain United Without the Queen?

The death of Queen Elizabeth II marks the end of a 70-year reign and initiates a period of profound uncertainty for the United Kingdom’s global influence and internal cohesion. The monarchy’s "great project"—a constellation of 15 realms—faces dissolution as nations like Barbados and Jamaica pursue sovereignty, driven by a modern reckoning with colonial legacies and racial injustice. Simultaneously, internal pressures mount as Northern Ireland and Scotland weigh independence, with Brexit further fueling Scottish desires to break from the union. While the Queen’s decades of personal diplomacy and stoicism acted as a vital glue for these far-flung territories, King Charles III inherits a significantly more formidable task. Without his mother’s unique, mythic status, the United Kingdom risks shrinking into a less significant global player as its constituent parts and former colonies increasingly seek to define their own independent futures.