Barbados to formally drop British Monarch as its head of state

BARBADOS prepared today to formally drop the Queen as head of state and declare itself a republic.

The Caribbean nation is the first to remove Elizabeth Windsor as its figurehead for nearly three decades.

Prince Charles is due to speak at a ceremony in the early hours on Tuesday to mark the transition, in which current Governor General Sandra Mason becomes the first president of Barbados. 

The presence of the royal, who landed on the island on Sunday, was not universally welcomed. Many Barbadians are demanding an apology for Britain’s brutal treatment of the islanders. 

Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration general secretary David Denny said: “If you are breaking with the monarchy, then you cannot invite them to be part of that process … it’s a contradiction.”

Barbados was first claimed for England under King James I in 1625 and was the birthplace of British slave-owning society.

The exploitation of Barbados helped Britain establish itself as an imperialist superpower as its ruling elites made fortunes from sugar produced by the island’s enslaved population.