Last week, Barbados’s spirited Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley outlined how the nation will proceed from now until Nov. 30, when, on the 55th anniversary of its independence, Barbados will cast off the Queen of England as its head of state, establish itself as a republic, and swear in its own, Barbadian Head of State.
The decision to do so had been announced on Sept. 16, 2020, producing both enthusiastic support and the expected rumblings from Anglophile interests of “too hasty,” “not without a referendum,” and the like. Wishful thinkers hoped the Prime Minister’s relative quiet on the matter in recent months indicated the decision could be stalled.
In an address on July 28, Mottley put that to rest: “We are not yet where we want to be, but we need to stay focused on this journey…. I come before you today to promise a few things,” she said with solemnity: “That on the 30th of November of this year—our great nation which we love shall become a parliamentary republic.”
