Barbados will remove the Queen as its Head of State next year, the country's prime minister has announced. The Caribbean island plans to become a republic next November, and wants to "leave [its] colonial past behind." It gained its independence from Britain in 1966, but kept the Queen as its Head of State.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced the news in a written speech overnight, quoting the Caribbean island nation's first premier Errol Barrow's warning against "loitering on colonial premises".
Reading the speech, Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason said: "The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State. "This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable
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