During a family vacation in Brighton, we joined a playful, British-themed Halloween parade. My daughter dressed as Queen Elizabeth, my son as her royal guard—complete with a plastic rifle. Locals smiled, clapped, even handed them biscuits. It felt like a parenting win—until we met her.
An older woman pulled me aside and asked coldly, “Are you really teaching your children to celebrate the monarchy?” She called it a symbol of oppression and colonialism. I was stunned—this was just a costume parade. But her words stuck. Back at our rental, I couldn’t shake it. Later, I looked up the monarchy’s history. Colonialism. Inequality. There was more to it than I’d considered.