Barbados Removes Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State

BRIDGETOWN – Government Barbados announced that the country would withdraw Ratu Elizabeth II as the head of state and turning into a republic next year. This announcement made the Caribbean country the first country to drop a stone English that’s in nearly three decades.

“The time has come to completely abandon our colonial past,” said the Governor-General of Barbados, Sandra Mason, in a speech. CNN, Wednesday (16/9/2020).

He said the country would become a republic in November next year, just as it celebrated the 55th anniversary of independence from the British monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the United Kingdom and 15 other countries previously under British rule – including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and several other island nations in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.(Also read: Amid the Corona Pandemic, Queen Elizabeth Postponed Birthday Celebrations)

But it has long been many Barbadans who have been nervous about removing its status – and with it, the symbolic presence of imperialism that remains over its rule – and many leaders of this century have proposed that the country be a republic.

“The Barbadian people want a Barbadian Head of State. This is a statement of ultimate belief in who we are and what we are capable of achieving,” Mason said, reading a speech written by the country’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, at the opening of the State Parliament.

“Therefore, Barbados will take the next logical step towards full sovereignty and become a Republic when we celebrate the 55th Anniversary of Independence,” he added.

A royal source told CNN that the decision was a matter for the government and people of Barbados, adding that the decision was not sudden and had been debated and openly discussed several times.

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