CNWNETWORK.COM | NATIONAL WEEKLY | THURSDAY, NOV 25 – DEC 1, 2021 –
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Barbados
HAPPY
55TH
INDEPENDENCE
Barbados Independence 1966 Prior to gaining independence, several Afro-Barbadians began to play a much more prominent role in the English colony's politics. Early activists included Grantley Herbert Adams, who helped found the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in 1938. He became the first Premier of Barbados in 1953, when Barbados attained full self-government. Barbados negotiated full political independence from Britain on November 30, 1966. Errol Barrow became the country's first prime minister. Barbados became an independent state and Commonwealth realm with the British Monarch as hereditary head of state. Due to their colonial history and connection to the United Kingdom, even after independence, it is sometimes referred to as “Little England.”
February 18, 1966: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip driving through Barbados waving to the crowds Keystone/Getty Images
dation. With the island now becoming a republic, it means that Queen Elizabeth II will no longer serve as head of state. The island had already removed the UK-based Privy Council as its final court of appeal. The Caribbean Court of Justice is the nation's highest court. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the woman who made the announcement, Dame Sandra Mason, would be sworn in as the first President of Barbados on Independence Day 2021. Mason was nominated by Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley.
Barbados As a Republic 2021 In September 2020, while delivering her Throne Speech, Governor General of Barbados, Dame Sandra Mason announced that Barbados will become a republic by the island's 55th anniversary of independence in November 2021. Mason said that former Prime Minister of Barbados Errol Barrow had cautioned against “loitering on colonial premises” and that the warning is “as relevant today as it was in 1966.” “Having attained independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for self-governance. The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence about who we are and what we are capable of achieving,” Mason said in
As of December 2021, the Governor General of Barbados Dame Sandra Mason (center) will be the rst president of Barbados after the nation becomes a Republic. – Alamy photo
making the announcement. Barbados has long flirted with the idea of becoming a republic since gaining Independence in 1966. In 1998, a Barbados constitutional review commission had recommended republican status but it was not carried over after the general election in 2003. Then in 2015, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said his administration would have implemented the recommen-
Queen Elizabeth greeting the Governor-General of Barbados Dame Sandra Mason during an audience at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. – Alamy photo