THE PRIME Minister of Antigua and Barbuda has said the country will aim to become a republic in three years following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Mr Gastone Brown said the Caribbean nation will hold a referendum to decide the future of their head of state just after signing a document that confirmed King Charles III to take on the role.
The PM has already suggested that the east-Caribbean country would make a move towards republicanism during a royal tour by Prince Edward and Sophie, the Countess of Wessesx earlier this year.
He told ITV News: “This is a matter that has to be taken to a referendum for the people to decide.
“It does not represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy.
“It is a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation.”
Mr Brown said he would hold a referendum if he is elected for another stint in office.
Antigua and Barbuda, who gained independence from the British in 1981, is understood to be the first Caribbean country to announce their plans of removing the British Monarch as their head of state since the Queen’s passing.
It comes after they announced a national period of mourning and the PM paid tribute to their former head of state along with leaders across Africa and the Caribbean.
He said: “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has had an impactful reign, during which her relations with my State and its people have remained mutually respectful and unchanging. All flags throughout the State will be flown at half-mast up until the day of Her Majesty’s burial. God save the King.”
Mr Brown previously led calls for the royal family to use their “diplomatic influence” to pay reparations over the slave trade in Antigua and Barbuda and throughout the Caribbean.
King Charles currently serves as head of state across nine countries in the tropical region, including St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis and the Cayman Islands.
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It was the neglect from Queen Elizabeth II that has caused Caribbean Nations to ditch the Monarch, in favour today of becoming Republics.
A Royal Caribbean visit, that amounts to waving at the children of the Caribbean every four years, is no substitution for practical economic and trading assistance, the nations of the Caribbean desperately require.
England has stopped importing Caribbean Sugar; England has stopped importing Caribbean bananas.
How does the nations of the Caribbean benefit from having His Majesty as Head of State?
David Blunkett as Labour’s Home Secretary in 2003, even placed punitive Visa requirements on Jamaican and Caribbean visitors; further weakening Caribbean people’s slavery days created extended family structure.
I wish I could celebrate the practical assistance the Monarch had offered to Her historically loyal Caribbean Subjects.
90,000 Caribbean Subjects offered their lives in defence of the Monarch during the Second European War.
Her Majesty’s Caribbean Subjects’ war-time sacrifice has been shabbily treated by the Monarch; by Parliament and by the Public and Corporate institutions of England: whilst most English people do not know of Caribbean people’s military assistance during the Second European War.
I wish the Republics of the Caribbean well.