Charles Windsor speaks with Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta in 2015
ANTIGUA and Barbuda’s Prime Minister has announced, following the Queen’s death, that he will call a referendum on the country becoming a republic within three years.
The Caribbean country is one of 14 nations to retain the British monarch as their head of state, along with Jamaica, the Bahamas, St Vincent and St Lucia.
After confirming Charles’ status as the new King of Antigua and Barbuda, the nation’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne revealed that he would push for a public referendum.
He told ITV on Saturday that quitting ties with the monarchy would be a natural progression for the islands, which became independent from British colonial rule in 1981.
“This is not an act of hostility or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy, but it is the final step to complete that circle of independence, to ensure that we are truly a sovereign nation.
“I’d say probably within the next three years,” he added, when asked for a timeframe on the referendum.
Mr Browne indicated he would seek to cut ties with the monarchy during Prince William and Kate’s visit to the Caribbean in March, which was met with protests and calls for slavery reparations.
Demonstrators accused the couple of benefiting from the “blood, tears and sweat” of slaves.
In the Bahamas, they were urged to acknowledge the British economy was “built on the backs” of past Bahamians and to issue a “full and formal apology for their crimes against humanity.”
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness also told the couple that the country would be “moving on” to become a republic.
It comes after Barbados officially removed the Queen as its head of state in November last year, ending Britain’s centuries of influence over the island.
Under British rule, the country had been a hub for the transatlantic slave trade for more than 200 years.
The Queen’s death is likely to see other Caribbean nations follow Barbados’s lead.
Mr Browne added that his country would remain a committed member of the Commonwealth, even if it removes the monarchy via referendum.
