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A citizen in the national colors of Barbados
Photo: Jane Barlow / dpa
Barbados wants to leave its colonial past behind for good.
Therefore, the island nation in the Caribbean is to become a republic by November 2021 - and Queen Elizabeth II no longer the head of state.
More than half a century after Britain gained independence, people wanted "a head of state from Barbados," said Governor General Sandra Mason, the Queen's official deputy on the island.
There could be no doubt that the country had the ability to govern itself.
Barbados will "take the next logical step to full sovereignty" and become a republic on November 30, 2021, the 55th anniversary of independence.
Buckingham Palace spoke of a "cause of the government and the people of the Commenwealth State" and made no further comment.
The Commonwealth is a loose union of states that emerged from the former colonies of Great Britain.
In addition to the United Kingdom, the Queen is head of state of 15 other formerly British-ruled countries in which she is represented by a Governor General.
These include Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea as well as several smaller Caribbean islands such as Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia.
As early as 1998, a commission set up by the government came to the conclusion that Barbados should become a republic with a non-executive president as head of state, who should replace the queen.
However, the recommendation was not implemented.
A number of nations have deprived the Queen of head of state status since gaining independence, while remaining part of the 54-member Commonwealth.
Most recently, Mauritius deposed Elizabeth as its queen in 1992 and became a republic.
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as / dpa / AFP
