Barbados becomes a republic on 1 December and Prince Charles has accepted an invitation to be on island when his mother, The Queen, ceases to be its head of state.
The current Governor General Dame Sandra Mason - who is currently the Queen’s appointed representative - will become the first President of Barbados.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has pushed through the change in her nation’s constitutional status, has invited him over. The day will coincide with its 55th anniversary of independence from Britain.
Barbados is the first country to drop the Queen as head of state since Mauritius in 1992 and the first Caribbean country since Trinidad & Tobago in 1976.
This development is fresh evidence of the Royal Family’s dwindling relevance internationally. Barbados will remain in the Commonwealth - which now has 54 member countries. By extending an invitation to the Prince of Wales, Mottley is trying to show the transition is not a snub to Her Majesty or the Royal Family.
She wants to use the opportunity to announce Barbados as a leading voice for small island nations – especially in the fight against climate change. She recently made two powerful speeches; at the United Nations Secretary General Assembly and at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow. The transition might also revive the debate about Britain’s colonial past and whether or not the UK should pay reparations for its colonial past.
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