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Barbados will become a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and breaking centuries-old ties with the British crown to the Caribbean nation on the 55th anniversary of independence from the UK.
Prince Charles of the United Kingdom arrived in Barbados on Sunday night as he prepares to replace the country with Queen Sandra Mason, a former governor-general who will also serve as the island’s first president.
The movement will not have much of an impact on the country’s international relations, as it has been the symbolic position of the queen as head of state.
That Mason, who was elected last month, through a joint session of the country’s Assembly and Senate, the exchanges will also be largely ceremonial, following Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
But supporters of the transition say the removal of the Queen of Britain as head of state from Barbados sends a strong message and further alienates her from the colonial system that once ruled the island.
“It’s tonight!” read the headline of the Barbados’ Daily Nation newspaper.
Barbados ’internal music and dance celebration will begin at 8pm local time (00:00 GMT), and Mason will open past midnight, coinciding with Barbados Independence Day on Tuesday.
Movement Republicanism – described by local leaders as a “logical next step towards full sovereignty” – was announced last year at the annual Speech from the Throne.
“The time has come to leave our colonial past completely behind,” Mason said, on behalf of Mottley, then as governor-general. “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state.”
In the capital Bridgetown, Barbadians are preparing to celebrate their new republic, with Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, stressing that the warm relationship between the island and the UK will continue despite constitutional change.
“I’m happy. We are on our own now without a king or queen of England, ”Nigel Mayers, 60, who sells oranges, told Reuters. “It’s a complete decline since independence.”
Prince Charles of the United Kingdom talks to Sandra Mason, President-elect of Barbados, on 28 November when he arrives at Grantley Adams Airport in Bridgetown. [Toby Melville/Reuters]Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth, a group of 54 countries from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
But pulling out of the monarchy will bring the number of Commonwealth kingdoms – the countries that remain the queen’s head of state – to 15, including Jamaica, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
The last country to leave the Crown was Mauritius in the Indian Ocean in 1992.
Experts say the Barbados movement could promote republicanism in other areas of the Commonwealth, especially in Jamaica, where the two main political parties support the complete overthrow of the monarchy.
Joe Little, editor-in-chief of London’s Majesty Magazine, said Barbados ’decision was a“ natural progression ”to a trend that began in 1952 with the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
“I think it will inevitably continue, not necessarily in this current reign, but in the next, and one that will probably accelerate,” he told AFP news agency.
An island of nearly 300,000 people, Barbados gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966.
The country was under British control from the 1620s, when British settlers turned it into a sugar colony dependent on the labor of thousands of African slaves until it was emancipated in 1834.
This wild history of Barbados and other Caribbean islands has prompted demands for reparations in the UK.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Barbados economy, which is dependent on tourism, and some residents say people are more concerned than with the constitutional change.
“I think everyone is more concerned today with their dollar and what that means tomorrow, especially with the prices of things,” Laurie Callender, a 43-year-old information technology specialist, told Reuters. “People talk more about it, I think.”
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