The prime minister of Barbados has said the country is set to remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and declare a republic by November next year. In a written address, Mia Mottley said it was time to leave their colonial past behind. Mottley quoted the first premier of the island nation, Errol Barrow, who warned against “loitering on colonial premises.”

As the governor-general of Barbados, Dame Sandra Mason read Mottley’s speech she said, “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state,” adding that it’s the ultimate statement of confidence in who they are and what they’re capable of doing.

“Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence,” Mason said.

While Barbados gained independence in 1966, the Queen remains its constitutional monarch. The decision to make the Caribbean island nation a republic has been a long time in coming.

Back in 1998, a Barbadian constitutional review commission recommended republican status, and in 2015 Freundel Stuart, the then prime minister said, “We have to move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future.”

Even after achieving independence, most countries in the Caribbean island maintained formal links with the British monarchy. However, if Barbados proceeds with its plan, it will join Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Guyana in cutting links with the monarchy.

Jamaica has also announced that it’s planning to take a similar move with its prime minister, Andrew Holness, saying it’s a priority of his government.

In 2003, Barbados took another move towards gaining independence from the UK in 2003 when it replaced the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice, located in Trinidad and Tobago’s Port of Spain, as its final appeals court.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barbados-republic-queen-elizabeth-head-state-b450871.html?fbclid=IwAR3meJXlkQy9RjjzcOHwUTWwmvxkRXzg5OLsF_iOJTtFjSbsffDQ3zN5Xdc