On paper, Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of 16 countries. This makes her the one monarch who has lost her crown many times in the past and will lose it many times in the future. Mauritius and Fiji, two of the most-preferred travel destinations in the world, were also the last two nations to have abolished the monarchy of the Queen.
While in Mauritius, the transition happened almost unnoticed, in Fiji it was heralded by two coups.
In 1992, Mauritius chose to become a republic within the Commonwealth and the then governor-general continued as interim president before making way for a new president in just three months.
Mauritius's politics is as colourful as India's and has witnessed coalition governments even before the 1980s, when the concept was unheard of in India.
In Fiji, the Queen held the reigns till 1987, when constitutional monarchy was replaced by a republic following two swift coups by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka. After the first coup, the then governor-general tried to uphold the constitution, but a second coup forced him to resign, ending Fiji's 113-year union with the British Crown.
Though Fiji was for a period expelled from the Commonwealth and is now a republic within the Commonwealth, the Queen's effigy is still displayed on Fiji's coinage, her royal insignia and arms still feature on public property and her birthday remains a public holiday. There have even been public debates whether the well-loved Queen should be taken back and whether Fiji should return to being a constitutional monarchy.
All ended well when Rabuka, who instigated the coups, later presented a tooth of a sperm whale to the Queen as a gesture of profound respect and an apology for having broken his oath of allegiance to her as an officer.
Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Also read: Death of a Monarch
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