Public servants told to 'dress sensitively' to mourn Queen’s death
The notice penned by the Office of the Deputy Governor and directed to public officers in the colony has encouraged adults to dress in either dark or muted colors whether they want to mourn the Queen’s passing or not.
Further, uniformed officers like those in the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) and Her Majesty’s Customs are being told to wear 'mourning bands just' above the elbow on the left arm.
11 days of mourning
Currently ongoing for 11 days, the national mourning period for the Queen began on the day of her death on September 8, 2022, and will culminate on the day after her state funeral set for Monday, September 19, 2022.
The Deputy Governor’s Office added that further information will follow regarding the transition from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles III and the implications on the public service.
It remains unclear if any penalty will be issued to officers who defy the orders on how to dress.
Not everyone mourning the Queen’s death
The death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch at age 96 was met with an outpouring of tributes from people around the world mourning her passing.
However, her death also comes as a growing number of British territories in the Caribbean have replaced, or are seeking to replace, the monarch with their own heads of state, calling for reparations and demanding that Britain apologise for its abuses during the colonial era.
Critics of the crown have been quick to point out the royal family’s role in the subjugation of people in countries formerly controlled by Britain, including Ireland, India and Nigeria — sparking an online debate over the monarchy itself.
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating," Uju Anya, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, wrote in a tweet after Buckingham Palace announced that the queen’s doctors were concerned about her health.
The tweet was removed by Twitter for violating the platform’s rules, and the school released a statement saying Anya’s views “absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster.”
According to the senior journalist at Yahoo News, Dylan Stableford, there are plenty of people, however, who share similar views.
“The matriarch of a royal family legacy of slave-trading, imperialism, colonialism, theft, symbol of opulence and mascot for the ruling class is dead,” the rapper and film director Boots Riley tweeted.
‘We will not mourn for Queen Elizabeth’
On Thursday afternoon, September 8, 2022, CNN international correspondent Larry Madowo delivered a live report from Kenya, calling attention to the reality that the queen was not universally loved.
“Across the African continent, there have been people who are saying, ‘We will not mourn for Queen Elizabeth because my ancestors suffered great atrocities under her people,’” Madowo said. “And she never fully acknowledged that.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters, an activist group in South Africa, posted a lengthy statement to Twitter explaining why it would not be mourning the queen.
“We do not mourn the death of Elizabeth, because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africa's history,” the statement said. “During her 70-year reign as Queen, she never once acknowledged the atrocities that her family inflicted on native people that Britain invaded across the world.
"The British royal family stands on the shoulders of millions of slaves who were shipped away from the continent to serve the interests of racist white capital accumulation," it added. "If there is really life and justice after death, may Elizabeth and her ancestors get what they deserve," the Economic Freedom Fighters stated.
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47 Responses to “Public servants told to 'dress sensitively' to mourn Queen’s death”
But this wasn't simply a fashion choice of the late monarch. There was also a practical reason for her eye-catching dresses, coats and hats.
The Queen was very aware that when she appeared in public, many people would have been waiting hours to see her, so she wanted to make sure she stood out. She was known for her remark, "I have to be seen to be believed."
" She needs to stand out for people to be able to say 'I saw the Queen'," Sophie, Countess of Wessex, said in the documentary The Queen at 90. "Don't forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen's hat as she went past."
Curator of the Royal Collection Trust, Caroline de Guitaut, agrees. " The Queen has always been aware that she needs to stand out from the crowd, and it is for this reason that millinery has always played an important role in her wardrobe," she told the New York Times.
Source: https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/reason-queen-wore-bright-colours-24994356.amp
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right
Every other place done confirmed, why tola behind ???
I must say that she rocked those bright outfits with matching hats. Reminded me of the Caribbean.
some folks have the wrong mindset about the UK & BVI, because of our connection and relationship with UK our children gets a solid education in the UK
Most of the talkers pockets fill with money or they have the green card to run to USA after causing disturbances here (run talk dat
The good we obtain from UK certainly outweigh any ills
UK ain't give my cousins in the BVI a damn thing but put nooses around their necks to seek to re-colonize the people. If all you over there don't wake up fast, ask what they did to Steve Beko, Chris Hainey and other freedom fighters in South Africa with the Monarchy's endorsement. They will do the same to you also. Surprisingly people in the BVI still Queen-struck and UK-Stuck. God Bless Jah people of the entire Virgin Islands first. All who want you to wear jumbie colours for Lizabeth, tell them let the dead bury their dead. They never moaned for PLO Lumumba of DRC or Thomas Sankara of Bukina Fasco or Samora Machael of Mozambique. Let the UK dead burry their dead and keep my brothers and sisters from 'Tola out of that brainwashing mess but wearing somber colours for a woman who never said sorry for what she and her Monarchy did to people of colour.