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The Government of Barbados announced its intention to Retire Queen Elizabeth II until November 2021, when the country celebrates the 55th anniversary of independence from Great Britain.
“The time has come to completely leave our colonial past behind. We want a Barbados head of state, ”said Barbados Governor Sandra Mason.
In a speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the executive stressed that “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state.” The passage to the Republic will be a “statement of confidence in who we are and what we can achieve”. Barbados gained independence in 1966, but chose to retain Queen Elizabeth II, sovereign of 16 states, as Head of State.
The speech also made reference to Errol Barrow, the first designated prime minister after independence, who argued that the country should not “waste time in colonial facilities.” “This warning is as relevant today as it was in 1966,” said the Governor of Barbados. “Having achieved independence more than half a century ago, our country should have no doubts about its capacity for self-government.”, Stressed the governor.
A Buckingham Palace source, quoted by the BBC, says that “the idea did not come out of nowhere” and “has been publicly debated and discussed several times.”
Barrow was not the only one who advocated the elimination of the monarchy. The former prime minister of Barbados, Freundel Stuart, also advocated “a change from a monarchical system to a republic in the near future.”
Barbados is not the first former British colony to leave the monarchy, but it is the first country to do so in almost three decades.
Among the former colonies of the Caribbean, Guyana took the same step in 1970, less than four years after gaining independence from Great Britain. Trinidad and Tobago also fired Elizabeth II in 1976 and two years later, the same happened in Dominica.
