It’s a fair curriculum question. What should South African children be taught about the queen, her life and legacy within the history of the empire? One response, the easy option, is to pretend there is no history; or to turn the rightist argument on its head, cancel the past. This would help many South Africans overcome a cringing ambivalence about our colonial past. After all, many of our citizens are descendants of the 1820 settlers and even more came later to a place of fine weather, spectacular scenery and unearned racial advantage as masters and madams. I say this without any rancour, simply as a matter of historical fact. To airbrush that nasty history of British occupation (twice) and settlement would assuage some of the guilt of our English brothers and sisters here at home...