Leaders pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at UN meeting

This year's UN General Assembly meeting of world leaders came on the heels of another event that reverberated internationally — the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, followed by both an outpouring of tributes and sometimes bitter reflection on the colonialist empire that came to an end during her seven decades on the throne.

There were also some questions about whether the loss of the long-reigning monarch might affect the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 nations that, in many cases, have historic and linguistic ties to Britain. Fourteen of them are Commonwealth “realms” — former colonies where the British monarch, now King Charles III, remains the head of state.

Some already were revisiting that relationship before the queen's death.

Barbados snipped its link to the monarchy and became fully independent last year, to felicitations from Elizabeth and Charles. The prime ministers of Jamaica and of Antigua and Barbuda said earlier this year that they intend to do likewise, and Antigua and Barbuda's Gaston Browne followed up after the queen's death by telling Britain's ITV News that he planned to call a referendum within three years.

Others have no such plans, at least for the moment. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had laid some groundwork for a potential Australian republic earlier in the year but said after Elizabeth's death that it was time to honour the queen, not change up the government. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern, who supports becoming a republic, said she didn't plan to take up the matter soon, noting there are many other issues on the country's plate.

So there are on the General Assembly's agenda, too, and the future of the Commonwealth didn't factor in the major speeches each country gets to make. But some did take time to remember the queen and invoked her words and example to suggest future action — or lessons for leaders.

A look at some of the remarks:

Homeland tribute:

British Prime Minister Liz Truss, whom Elizabeth formally appointed two days before her death, said Elizabeth “symbolized the post-war values” underlying the UN and recalled a speech that the queen gave at the General Assembly in 1957.

“She warned that it was vital not only to have strong ideals but also to have the political will to deliver on them. Now we must show that will. We must fight to defend those ideals. And we must deliver on them for all our people,” Truss said.

Call to action:

Mauritius is a former British colony off the southeast coast of Africa, and the two countries remain at odds over the Chagos Islands, which the UK continues to control. Former residents have waged a years-long legal fight for the right to return to the archipelago after Britain expelled them in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a military base.

Mauritius' prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, urged Truss' new government to resolve the matter by placing itself “on the right side of history,” pointing to Elizabeth's “values and principles."

“What more fitting tribute to the memory of this great monarch who dedicated her life to service, to uphold values of democracy, human rights and international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity than to bring this history to an end and to do so in a manner that respects sovereignty, matters of security, environment and the fundamental rights of human beings?” he asked.

Memories of 'Mama Kwin'

Papua New Guinea is one of the far-flung “realms” where the U.K. monarch is still head of state, and Prime Minister James Marape closed his General Assembly remarks with an homage to the sovereign whom he said islanders affectionately dubbed “Mama Kwin.”

“Our beloved queen personified grace, dignity, honesty, humility, tolerance of others, forgiveness and all other Christian virtues and lived 70 years of consistent, unfailing life of public service — some lessons we leaders of the world must learn to practice,” he said.

“We bade farewell to an exceptional monarch whose life was steeped in service to peace,” she said. “We owe it to the people and to her memory to make our decisions in the same spirit.”