Barbados will remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic next year, it has announced, as its governor-general says: “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.”
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The country, one of 16 remaining realms which has the Queen as its head, will seek a new head of state by November 2021, in a move which could see other Caribbean countries follow suit.
Buckingham Palace said the decision was a “matter for the government and people of Barbados”.
The decision to remove the Queen as head of state has been “mooted for quite some time”, a source said, and did not come as a surprise to Her Majesty or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The country intends to remain part of the Commonwealth, which has the Queen as its head, but will replace her portrait on the Barbadian dollar bill.
Experts said it was likely that other Caribbean nations would follow suit to become republics in due course, with Jamaica expected to declare itself next.
The Telegraph UK
