Finally, the end of ‘the British empire’ – and maybe an honours system a modern country can live with | Hugh Muir

Reports suggest King Charles would not object to a move away from awards with ‘empire’ in the title. Not before time

Benjamin Zephaniah did it. So did Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Howard Gayle, the pioneering black footballer, did it without a second thought.

Britain, keen to highlight their achievements as outstanding citizens who have made a notable contribution to how we live, dangled the recognition of a state-backed honour in front of each of them. And each, ultimately unable to reconcile the link between those honours and the misty-eyed evocation in the title of Britain’s brutal empire, said “no thanks”. Or “up yours”, in the case of Zephaniah, who said: “I get angry when I hear that word ‘empire’; it reminds me of slavery.” Many others, without publicising their decision, have rejected honours privately.

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Finally, the end of ‘the British empire’ – and maybe an honours system a modern country can live with | Hugh Muir

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