>> this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. the u.k. and the world has bid farewell to queen elizabeth ii with the state funeral. she has now been laid to rest. her 70 year reign was the longest in british history. hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to file attached to watch the final procession.

it was led by her son king charles the third. u.s. judge has thrown out a baltimore man's conviction in a case highlighted by the podcast. adnan syed spent years in jail accused of killing his girlfriend. i decision is to be made in weeks on whether he will face a retrial. >> our investigation revealed the original prosecutors and the subsequent prosecutors failed to disclose relevant information about alternative suspects. one of whom threatened to kill the victim and had motive to kill the victim and both of whom had a pattern of violence against women. >> the taliban says it has released an american engineer in exchange for a senior taliban member held by the united states. he had been in u.s. custody for

17 years on drug charges. that is it for my son al jazeera. the news continues after inside story. cindy: the end of an era. queen elizabeth is laid to rest. how different will the reign of king charles iii be in this is

inside story. hashem: hello and welcome to inside story. i am hashem ahelbarra. the united kingdom has said a final goodbye to queen elizabeth ii. she was crowned in 1953, just a few years after world war ii. she served as a military. during her 70 years on the throne, she witnessed the fall of imperialism and the rise of democracies. queen elizabeth was not only the hand of the royal family, she was the head of the commonwealth a group of 56 independent , nations.

our reporter looks back at her legacy. reporter: i nation pauses, two minutes of silence. observe not only across the united kingdom, but in several other countries, final goodbye to queen elizabeth. steeped in christian tradition, hope funeral was held at westminster abbey, the 800-year-old building where she was married and crowned. on her casket, the imperial state crown, the symbol of the power of the monarchy. recent calls from south africa for the jewels to be returned. the queen funeral ushers in a new era. her son, king charles iii, is now king.

for 14 of the countries, he is head of state. supporters say they benefit from a membership that includes bilateral cooperation on international goals. >> during her reign, she was committed to friendship. >> i think all canadians will reflect appropriately on the queen. the different governments have made their own decisions to mark the occasion. for 70 years there has been a queen who has been interested in canada. reporter: but detractors say the commonwealth is a postcolonial club with little relevance in the modern world.

there up and renewed calls to remove the british monarch. >> let's reflect at who we are as a nation. the united nations have told us you need to cut off the colonial shackles. this would be the time to do it. reporter: with rising anticolonial settlement -- sentiment, the future is uncertain. charles says he is ready to embrace change. hashem: let's bring in our guest. zaid belbagi, managing partner of hardcastle advisory. mridula mukherjee, professor of history at jawaharlal nehru university.

cindy mccreery, head of the modern monarchy in global perspectives research hub at the university of sydney. welcome to the program. it is defining what it means to be a monarch in modern times going to be the biggest challenge facing king charles iii? zaid: i think it will be. however, it is something the monarchy has looked at for several decades now. we have seen a monarchy that has grown more acute to young people's issues, the use of social media, trending issues such as climate change. i think king charles has been very keen to embrace those issues, to keep the monarchy up-to-date and relevant. hashem: king charles iii is definitely going to start building bridges with different parts of the world, particularly

with the commonwealth. india as part of that. -- india is part of the commonwealth. you get the sense there is a complex relationship there, particularly the sentiment that britain needs to apologize for the atrocities committed during the british colonial rule. mridula: yes, i think the fact that king charles iii when he was prince charles made more than 10 visits to india, which is quite unusual, obviously shows she had some strong interests in many aspects of the country. he was very interested in the system of medicine. he showed a lot of interest in

other aspects of india. he has been interested in many things. there are very interesting stories of his visit. obviously, i think he has a familiarity with the country, which will be much more than others in the royal family. i also understand that a famous holistic physician has been his personal physician for the last decade. i think there are aspects of indian life which have interested him. he has also taken an interest in the issue of climate change. he supported various charities

in india. i do not think this will be unfamiliar territory for him. the second part of your question about the demand that comes for an apology for atrocities. when the queen made her last visit, there was a public feeling that when she visited the site of one of the atrocities where hundreds of people died, that she did not actually apologize so people expressed their regret. hashem: i will get back to you.

cindy, i would like to ask you. is there an urgent need for king charles iii to reinvent the monarchy for the monarchy itself to continue to appeal to its own people? cindy: thank you. that is a really complex question. on the one hand, i do think that there are many issues that charles is very committed to, such as climate change, which appeal very much to young people. and i think that would give charles more popularity with that demographic. we know many young people do not actually connect very well with charles at the moment. and they have more sympathy with younger members of the family.

so that is a challenge for charles if he wants to retain and encourage youth interest in him as a monarch. on the other hand, as he said in his first speech, he very much wants to follow in her footsteps and wants to demonstrate a sense of stability. but to modernize too quickly risks losing support among older generations who typically tend to be more in favor of the monarchy in many countries. i think it is a great challenge for charles. other areas he could make the greatest contribution is not in his role less sovereign, but as head of the commonwealth. hashem: king charles iii is king

of the u.k., four deeply divided nation's that formed the united kingdom. isn't this an extremely extraordinary task to be able to bring together this gathering of four nations? zaid: you are quite right. like we have discussed, you will have noted the monarchy has been keen to hug the divided nations during these 10 days of national mourning. it is no accident that the queen 's coffin began in edinburg, there were bagpipe at her funeral.

there was that visit to belfast. there was no mistake the monarchy has done this on purpose and there will be an issue with the home nations, but even further afield with canada, australia and new zealand. we can expect king charles to be on the airplane. i believe the queen visited canada over 20 times. she was a great offer over funeral today and it was no accident that canadian mounties led the funeral procession, again unknot to a larger -- a nod to a political issue that may or may not come into the picture. what charles has on his side is the grandmother, she was

scottish. the family has deep scottish roots and it is not lost upon many that king james the first came to inherit the throne from elizabeth the first and he was king of scots and the two kingdoms are very much united in terms of blood and history. hashem: there was a demand for the return of the diamond that was discovered in india and which formed the main jewel on the crown. when you have part of the commonwealth as head of state, isn't this going to look one day very endocrine mistake idea that needs to go away with history?

mridula: it is necessary to understand that this issue was very much there. this was sorted out then. that india does not recognize the king or the queen of england as their monarch. it is not the root -- the same relationship that canada or australia has. the king was recognized as a symbol, but not as a monarch or somebody recognized as occupying any position in india. the monarchy, india in the commonwealth is messing in the same way as it is seen from

australia or canada. i do not think there was any issue over there. nobody in india [indiscernible] . about the diamond, this demand keeps coming up from time to time. now it has come up. the thing is that i do not think it is going to happen. we would be very happy to get it back, but i think politically [indiscernible] i do not think that is on the

agenda. hashem: the bahamas prime minister intends to hold a referendum to remove king charles iii as official head of state of the bahamas. the australians are looking forward to do the same thing. are we talking about the organization, the commonwealth, becomes more irrelevant in the eyes many people. cindy: i think we need to distinguish between the commonwealth and commonwealth realms. there are 56 members of the commonwealth, but 36 are republics, like india. only 14 are commonwealth realms. there are five other monarchies. i do not think it is a question that the commonwealth will become irrelevant, but i do

think we will see more commonwealth realms becoming republics. we know it is possible for a country to become a republic but remained within the commonwealth, so i do think that will happen. i do not think canada will change. i think we have a while to wait with australia, new zealand. the commonwealth itself has potential now with charles as its head because she is so interested in many issues which are relevant. the commonwealth has a very youthful population and some of the poorest nations in the world. these are issues which charles has a solid track record of

advocating for. so i think the commonwealth might actually become more relevant under charles as leadership. -- charles's leadership. hashem: could this be an indication that the monarchy will have to tackle some of the most delicate issues that they have been delaying for quite some time? zaid: definitely. i think scotland is an important case. there was a referendum in 2014.

55% wanted to stay part of the united kingdom. the same in canada showed about 55%. the home nations will be the most pressing issue and a real challenge that the new king would like to confront head on. the wealth and the power is because of this very union. the monarchy will be at the forefront that efforts to keep these countries tied together. but there are strong ties and it is almost a wake up call. the monarchy will need to look at this quite closely.

you are right to raise that issue. hashem: we have spoken about the challenges. on the other hand, when you look at king charles iii, as crown prince he was known for his outspoken stances when it comes to climate change, religious tolerance, diversity. do you think these issues could help him build bridges with different parts of the world, the commonwealth and india in particular? mridula: certainly. these are precisely the kinds of issues where he can play an important role. any avenues where countries can work together in areas other than geopolitics were important

so it can be a progressive form for working on issues on which you need change. everybody knows climate change is one of the biggest issues today. just look what happened at pakistan. i think we would be more than happy in this part of the world for any initiatives and leadership which makes people come together and have strategies which actually work. we could do with that. hashem: cindy, king charles iii, his mother was coordinated during the decline -- was coordinated during the decline of the british empire.

do you think in a way, the future of the monarchy itself in the u.k. is going to be purely shaped by political and economic issues in the u.k. itself in the long run? cindy: this is a difficult question to answer, but i do not think it is going to be just simply political and economic issues which will determine the future of the monarchy in the u.k.. i think there are strong ties of history with the four home nations, but also with the commonwealth. a monarchy that can modernize and can gain the goodwill and the support of young people in particular, by showing the promise of the future, not just the current monarch, but the future of the heir to the

throne. also monarchy -- but also this is where the magic could keep the monarchy going in a ceremonial way. i think that celebrity now is entwined into monarchy. we see that as many people understood the reign of queen elizabeth not through history but through fictional counts on television. this may offer hope for charles if people can continue to believe in the magic. hashem: when you succeed someone who has been there for 70 years and has been larger than life, could king charles iii's legacy

be just trying to maintain the same appeal the monarchy has had during the queen elizabeth? zaid: the reality is longevity. the monarchy has been here before. i think the king has some specific views which he will make known, for example, on the size of the family. this will be an almost caretaker reigned. that is simply the way succession works. monarchy always has detractors. but the real interest is the

enduring equality of this family, whether it is through celebrity or political influence or colonial legacy. it has a huge footprint on the world. we have seen that just with the commonwealth. we have french colonies that have joined the commonwealth which i think will be a sign of the way forward. hashem: we are running out of time. i wish we had more time to continue our conversation about this interesting topic. i really appreciate your insight. thank you. and thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website. you can also join the conversation on twitter.

goodbye for now.

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