Barbados has deposed Queen Elizabeth as head of state, establishing a new republic on Tuesday with its first president and cutting the Caribbean island's final colonial ties nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived.
The new republic was formed at the stroke of midnight, to the enthusiasm of hundreds of people along Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown. A 21-gun salute was fired over a crowded Heroes Square as the Barbados national song was played.
Prince Charles, the British heir apparent, stood solemnly as Queen Elizabeth's royal banner was lowered and the new Barbados was announced, a move that republicans hope will spark debate of similar ideas in other former British colonies where the Queen is sovereign.
"We the people must instill the spirit and substance of Republic Barbados," President Sandra Mason, the island's first president, declared. "We are responsible for shaping its future. We are accountable to one another and to our nation. Barbados is the people."
Barbados views the dethronement of Elizabeth II, who continues to reign as Queen of 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Jamaica, as a means of ultimately overcoming the demons of its colonial history.
"The establishment of this republic represents a new beginning," Prince Charles said as his mother conveyed her best wishes.
"From the darkest days of our history and the appalling atrocity of slavery that forever marred our history, the people of this island have forged their way forward with extraordinary fortitude."
After a magnificent show of Barbadian dancing and music, complete with speeches commemorating the end of colonialism, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the head of Barbados' republican movement, designated Barbadian artist Rihanna a national hero.
The founding of the republic, 55 years after Barbados declared independence, serves practically all colonial ties that had bound the tiny island to England since 1625 when an English ship seized it for King James I.
It could also be a precursor to a more significant move by other former colonies to sever connections with the British monarchy as the country prepares for the end of Elizabeth's nearly 70-year reign and Charles' eventual ascension.
"Come to a complete halt this colonial page," Winston Farrell, a Barbadian poet, declared during the ceremony. "Some have grown up stupid beneath the Union Jack, ensconced in their own skin castle."
"This is about us emerging from the cane fields and reclaiming our history," he explained. "Put an end to all of that, and replace her with a Bajan."
The history of slavery
Prince Charles' statement emphasized the two nations' constant connection, even as he acknowledged the atrocities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
While Britain views slavery as a transgression of the past, some Barbadians are demanding reparations from the country.
Activist David Denny applauded the republic's establishment but opposed Prince Charles' visit, arguing that the royal family has benefited for centuries from the slave trade.
"Our movement also wants the royal family to make amends," Denny stated in a Bridgetown interview.
The English first used white British indentured servants to work on tobacco, cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations. Still, Barbados would become England's first genuinely profitable slave society within a few decades.
Between 1627 and 1833, Barbados received 600,000 enslaved Africans put to labor on the sugar plantations, creating profits for the English proprietors.
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, European nations enslaved around 10 million Africans in the Atlantic slave trade. Those who survived the frequently perilous voyage were forced to work on plantations.
"I'm ecstatic," Ras Binghi, a cobbler in Bridgetown, told Reuters before the ceremony. Binghi stated that he would toast the new country with a drink and a cigarette.
Barbados will maintain its status as a republic within the Commonwealth, a confederation of 54 countries spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe.
"They should leave Queen Elizabeth alone — they should leave her in charge. "I'm not sure why we need to be a republic," Sean Williams, 45, remarked while standing in front of an independence monument.
The Queen was last deposed as head of state in 1992, when Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island, declared itself a republic.
