The end of Queen Victoria’s reign brought with it the slow but relentless and agonising dissolution and dismemberment of the British Empire since it was unable to sustain its existence being founded through the conquest of many formerly free independent nations.

It was also thinly spread across the world and this encouraged the regimes of the appointed governors to practice widespread institutional abuse on the populations of the colonies.

The Royal Navy, which had policed the Empire using gunboat diplomacy lost its power, influence and ability to control affairs and this encouraged the long suffering residents of many colonies to rebel and demand that the British leave.

In some instances the requested withdrawals were achieved peacefully but in many examples the British had to be thrown out of former colonies by force of arms.

In 2022 the Empire is a pale shadow of what it used to be and yet its leaders in Westminster continue to strut the world stage like a punch drunk fighter boasting of its continued influence on world affairs.

The Empire includes just two colonies (Scotland and Wales) attached to Westminster by oppression and abuse and held captive by force.

The weakness of their situations being attributed to the land attachment and the death and banishment of many millions of their residents who fought against overwhelming odds for many years.

It is time Westminster acknowledged the rights of Scotland and Wales and declared an end to the Empire.