Barbados will become a republic and Prince Charles will be guest of honour

 

 Prince Charles, the future King, will visit Barbados to watch it officially become a republic, after its people voted to remove his mother the Queen as head of state and “fully leave our colonial past behind”.

The Prince of Wales, invited in his role as future head of the Commonwealth, will be the guest of honour at the Republic Celebration events later this month: the first of their kind in a generation.

He will mark Barbados’s transition to a republic within the Commonwealth, Clarence House said, as he demonstrates the royal family’s continued loyalty and appreciation of the country that will remain in the “family of nations”.

On November 30, Dame Sandra Mason, the island’s governor-general, will be sworn in as the new head of the state some affectionately call “Little England in the sun”, replacing the Queen.

She was elected almost unanimously by its Parliament, and will begin her new role as president on the 55th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain in 1966.

Charles will attend on the personal invitation of Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

He has previously attended such handovers as a representative of the Queen, most recently in Zimbabwe in 1980. Then, he watched a ceremony marking the independence of Britain’s last African colony, as power was transferred to Robert Mugabe, then prime minister. 

In 1997, Charles was present at the handover of Hong Kong, a former British colony, to China, when he watched the lowering of the Union flag and told its people: “We shall not forget you”.

He last visited Barbados in March 2019 during a Caribbean tour with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

During the short visit this month, he is expected to make a speech acknowledging the end of an era for the monarchy, and emphasising the country’s continued Commonwealth links.

Barbados was one of 16 remaining realms where the Queen is head of state. Republicans hope the move will prompt other countries to follow suit in a “domino effect”. Jamaica is expected to be next in declaring itself a republic.

The palace has always said it is a “matter for the government and people” of each realm to decide.

Barbados intends to remain part of the Commonwealth but will replace the Queen’s portrait on its dollar bill.

Last year, Mason delivered the “Throne Speech” at the state opening of the Barbadian Parliament, saying: “Having attained independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for self-governance. The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.”

The Queen last visited the island in 1989. Her remaining realms are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Mason, a 72-year-old former teacher, magistrate and judge, has been governor-general since 2016 and was the first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals.

The island is the first realm to become a republic since Mauritius in 1992.

It joins three other republics in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Guyana, which replaced the Queen as head of state in 1970; Trinidad and Tobago, in 1976; and Dominica, which became a republic at the same time as declaring independence in 1978.

Princess Margaret represented the Queen at the independence ceremony in Dominica, delivering a message on behalf of her sister.

No members of the royal family attended events for Guyana or Trinidad and Tobago, the Queen opting instead to send messages of thanks and congratulations, and host the outgoing governors-general.