Nov 30,2021:Barbados is set to become a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and severing centuries-old ties with the British crown on the 55th anniversary of the Caribbean nation’s independence from the United Kingdom.
Prince Charles, the UK’s heir to the throne, arrived in Barbados late on Sunday as the country prepares to replace the Queen with Sandra Mason, a former governor-general who will become the island’s first president.
The move will not have major effects on the country’s international relations, as the queen’s position as head of state has been symbolic.
The role that Mason, who was elected last month by a joint session of the country’s House of Assembly and Senate, takes up will also be largely ceremonial, behind Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
But supporters of the transition say removing the British queen as Barbados’s head of state sends a powerful message – and further distances the island from its colonial past.
“Tonight’s the night!” read the front-page headline of Barbados’ Daily Nation newspaper.
Mason is due to to be inaugurated just after midnight, coinciding with Barbados Independence Day on Tuesday.
“This is more of an emotional, historic, symbolic decision than a practical one,” said Al Jazeera’s Latin America Editor Lucia Newman, who is at the celebrations in the capital, Bridgetown.
The move to republicanism – which local leaders described as the “next logical step toward full sovereignty” – was announced last year during the annual Throne Speech.
“The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” said Mason, who delivered the speech on behalf of Mottley in her then-role as governor-general. “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state.”
In Bridgetown, Barbadians have been preparing celebrations for their new republic, with Prince Charles expected to deliver a speech stressing that warm relations between the island and the UK would continue despite the constitutional change.
Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
But its withdrawal from the monarchy will bring the number of Commonwealth realms – countries that continue to have the queen as their head of state – to 15, including Jamaica, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
The last country to ditch the crown was the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in 1992.
