Africa Business Radio

Barbados has become a republic, replacing the British monarch as its head of state and severing its last remaining colonial bonds nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived at the Caribbean island. The new republic was born to the cheers of hundreds of people lining Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown, at the stroke of midnight. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, stood somberly as the royal standard was lowered and the new Barbados declared, a step which republicans hope will spur discussion of similar proposals in other former British colonies where Queen Elizabeth II remains their sovereign. Sandra Mason was sworn in as Barbados’s first president in the shadow of Barbados’s parliament.