The Death of Queen Elizabeth II has saddened millions, but has also raised conversations about the past, race, inequality and political privilege.

Fair Start has previously encouraged the Royal Family to embrace more ecologically sustainable and socially equitable family planning, but the impact of a long-running racist and colonial empire / monarchy raise much larger questions:

Why are so many fascinated by monarchies in a world that purports to be committed to democracy? Does the racist and colonial history of the Royal family obligate reparations? Does the continuing focus on royalty undercut commitments to equality of opportunity, antiracism, and the dismantling of colonization?

One way to show a commitment to justice, at the most fundamental level, would be to embrace family planning reforms that include the needs of future generations and nonhuman animals, using nature and equity as guides to help families cooperate to ensure the best future possible for all children.

That model is at direct odds with the concept of monarchy, and even politically symbolic monarchies.

Wherever one falls in the debate about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the moment provides the opportunity to reflect, and to try to answer questions that many generations ago could not have been publicly addressed.