Ties that (still) bind: the enduring tendrils of Empire

No one asked if the post-Brexit vision of Empire 2.0 was shared by the states once part of the British empire. When they did, the answer was unexpected Twelve years after William the Conqueror sailed across what is now known as the English channel to invade England and claim the Crown in 1066, he constructed the Tower of London. Defiant locals viewed the stone Tower, built into the remnants of the city’s Roman wall, as a symbol of the oppression of the continental regime. For the new monarch it was an important defensive hold on the north bank of the Thames, a useful place for temporary retreat if needed.Over the following millennia the Tower, more than any other building, has represented the power of the throne: a palace, treasury, public-record office, mint, menagerie and, most famously, a prison – the place where opponents were imprisoned and, sometimes, executed. Now it has more than a touch of Disneyland – a World Heritage site visited by three million people a year, and home to the crown jewels, the most glittering embodiment of a former empire. Continue reading…
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