EXCLUSIVE: Barbados to cut ties with the Royal Family, 400 years after they got colonised by the UK
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EXCLUSIVE: Barbados to cut ties with the Royal Family, 400 years after they got colonised by the UK
Barbados has recently announced that they will be removing the British monarchy as head of state 55 years after they gained full independence from the UK.
The recent announcement would make the Caribbean country the 18th nation to depart from British rule under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Barbados to become the 18th nation to depart from British rule under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II after the government announced that they will be removing Her Majesty as head of state. Credit: Randy Brooks / AFP via Getty Images.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, whose political party, Barbados Labour Party, holds all but one of the seats in the lower house of the Barbadian parliament, announced the move to a republic last year.
The move had no referendum, which was a controversial matter for Barbadians.
Solutions Party leader Grenville Phillips said: “They should have asked the people, and they didn’t, and they promised us that they would.”
It must be noted that the party ran candidates in the last election but has failed to win a seat.
Additionally, Phillips failed to receive any answers after seeking clarity over the constitution in the Barbadian courts.
Peter Wickham, a political scientist from the Caribbean Development and Research Services, said that the government is in the clear.
Wickham said: “Australia has a requirement that you have a referendum in order to become a republic, while Barbados has no such requirement, it’s one of the easiest constitutions to change in the Caribbean.”
“Once people are told the Head of State is the Queen, and she’s not even Barbadian, and there’s no opportunity for myself or any other Barbadian to become head of state I think it changes people’s ideas."
Barbados was set to hold a grand ceremony for the proclamation of the Barbadian Republic on November 29. Credit: Jimmy Cannon/7NEWS.
The Barbadian Republic was set to be proclaimed in a grand ceremony on November 29, removing their last imperial bond with the UK.
The current Governor-General, former judge Dame Sandra Mason, would become president.
The new position will be elected every four years by a two-thirds majority of a joint sitting of both houses of the Barbadian Parliament — the same model Australia rejected in the 1999 referendum.
Wickham said: ”I do hope that what Barbados does starts a revolution, but I also understand for some of us it’s not that easy.”
Barbados was once dubbed as the "Birthplace of British slave society" since they got colonised by the UK 400 years ago.
Some even consider the monarchy to be the embodiment of a racist past.
However, the Caribbean country's shift in governance does not mean that their relationship with the UK is over as flights from London still land on Barbadian land every day bringing valuable income from tourists.
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