QUEEN ELIZABETH II of England is set to be removed as the monarch of the Caribbean island nation of Barbados, its government has announced.
According to the Telegraph a speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley quoted the Caribbean island nation’s first premier Errol Barrow’s warning against “loitering on colonial premises”.
Reading the speech, Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason said: “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State.
“This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.
“Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time we celebrate our 55th Anniversary of Independence.”
This development by Barbados has been on underway as the island nation in 2013 replaced its final appeals court which was based in the London with the more local Caribbean court of justice in Trinidad.
In 2015, Freundel Stuart – Barbados’ Prime Minister at the time – said the country should transition to a “republic form of government in the very near future.”
The country gained its independence from Britain in 1966, though the Queen remains its constitutional monarch.
In 1998, a Barbados constitutional review commission recommended republican status, and in 2015 Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said “we have to move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future”.
Most Caribbean countries have kept formal links with the monarchy after achieving independence.
Barbados would join Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Guyana if it proceeds with its plan to become a republic.
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