Barbados on Tuesday announced plans to remove Queen Elizabeth II from the post of head of state and transform it into a republic by November 2021.
The Caribbean island nation, which gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, said it was now “taking a logical step toward full sovereignty and becoming a republic by the time we celebrate the 55th anniversary of independence.”
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“Now is the time to put our colonial past behind us completely,” Governor-General Sandra Mason said in a speech to Parliament on Tuesday by Prime Minister Mia Motley. “Barbadians want a Barbadian state of the state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. ”
According to The Independent of Europe, Barbados gained independence from its colonial ruler many years ago but was linked to the monarchy as a legal and practical, but non-political, ruler with Queen Elizabeth II. After establishing its own prime minister next year, the nation, like many other former territories of the British Empire, is expected to become a republic in the Commonwealth.
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Buckingham Palace said the issue belongs to the people of Barbados, Reuters reported.
“Barbados and the UK have become one in our shared history, culture, language and much more. We have a lasting partnership and will continue to work with all our valued Caribbean partners, “said a spokesman for the British Foreign Office.
Barbados was first occupied by England in 1625 and became notorious for its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Immigrants were hired as laborers to work in the rich sugarcane production industry.
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The country will join the former Caribbean colonies of Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Guyana, which gained all independence and became republics in the 1960s and 1970s, but remained within the Commonwealth.
A voluntary political organization of 54 member countries from almost all the former territories of the British Empire is headed by Queen Elizabeth II.
