When Barbados announced that it was going to remove the Queen as head of state and become a republic, all in less than 14 months, at least one authority warned: “Don’t hold your breath.”
It was the third time in less than 20 years that the Caribbean island, a former British colony that gained independence in 1966, had said that it was going to ditch the Queen.
The announcement left one of Barbados’ most celebrated sportsmen, the cricketer Sir Garry Sobers, “shocked”.
The Lord Nelson statue in Bridgetown will be removed
ALAMY
However, experts have said that on this occasion political momentum is behind the move, which could happen without a referendum. “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” Dame Sandra Mason, the Barbados governor-general and Queen’s representative, said.
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