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Barbados wants to leave its colonial past behind forever. Thus, the Caribbean island nation will become a republic in November 2021, and Queen Elizabeth II is no longer the head of state. More than half a century after Britain gained independence, people wanted “a head of state from Barbados,” said Governor General Sandra Mason, the queen’s official deputy on the island. There was no doubt that the country had the capacity to govern itself.
Barbados “will take the next logical step towards full sovereignty” and will become a republic on November 30, 2021, the 55th anniversary of independence.
Buckingham Palace spoke of “Commonwealth government and the people matter” and did not comment on it. The Commonwealth is a flexible union of states that arose from the former colonies of Great Britain.
In addition to the United Kingdom, the Queen is head of state of 15 other countries previously ruled by Great Britain where she is represented by a Governor General. These include Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, as well as several smaller Caribbean islands such as Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Lucia.
As early as 1998, a commission set up by the government concluded that Barbados should become a republic with a non-executive president as head of state, who should replace the queen. However, the recommendation was not implemented.
Several nations have revoked the Queen’s status as head of state since gaining independence, while remaining part of the 54-member Commonwealth. More recently, Mauricio deposed Elizabeth as her queen in 1992 and it became a republic.
