'The monarchy represents a history that is problematic for social work'
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 17 October, 2022
I’m writing this just over a month after the Queen died. For most, life has moved on, and there is little in the news about the royal family, funerals and monarchy.
But for a couple of weeks in September, the coverage, the eulogising, the outpourings of ‘national grief’ were inescapable. The lying-in state, with accompanying queue, was seized upon as a symbol of all things British. The funeral itself was an awe-inspiring display of British pomp, might and militia.
It seemed that every supermarket, business or organisation put out an email declaration of sorrow and shared loss. It seemed we were united in our views and feelings, all expressions of plurality, of diversity of British culture fell away.
There were some opinion pieces in the press and posts on social media expressing an alternate, decolonised view of royalty and what the Queen represented. These unleashed waves of racism and abuse, outrage at the ‘disrespect’.
There are many nuanced takes on the Queen – as a monarch, a woman, a public servant, a figurehead. I don’t aim to discuss or dispute the rights, wrongs or validity of those views and feelings. Yet British monarchy represents some values, constitution and history that is deeply problematic for social work. We were, in our recent past, a white supremacist empire and the monarch head of this. In the time of the Queen’s reign, atrocities were committed in Commonwealth nations. Our social work values mandate us to respect diversity and challenge oppression. We deal in complexity and multiple stories. We should not turn away from the complexity of holding in mind the violent history associated with monarchy while we smile at vignettes of Paddington bear.
As a social worker striving towards anti-racist practice and allyship, I can’t look away from the hurt and exclusion felt by some of my Black and minoritised colleagues and friends, the racist abuse directed at those that speak a different truth. Monarchy is not benign, and tacit acceptance of a unified expression of grief is not allyship. If I stay quiet and accept that it is ‘disrespectful’ to express a different view during a time of national mourning, then I privilege respect for a white institution over respect for the Black people harmed by the grave wrongs of that institution.
Challenge doesn’t have to be confrontational or polarised, but as a social worker, and if I am to be an ally, I must pay attention to, speak out and amplify the marginalised voices, whatever the context and circumstance.
Lore Riedel is a social worker who works as a partners in change manager at Brighton and Hove City Council