Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic

[We Never Know]

Another one gone.

"BRIDGETOWN, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Barbados ditched Britain's Queen Elizabeth as head of state, forging a new republic on Tuesday with its first-ever president and severing its last remaining colonial bonds nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived at the Caribbean island.

At the strike of midnight, the new republic was born to cheers of hundreds of people lining Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown. A 21-gun salute fired as the national anthem of Barbados was played over a crowded Heroes Square.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, stood somberly as Queen Elizabeth's 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 that have the Queen as their sovereign.

"We the people must give Republic Barbados its spirit and its substance," Sandra Mason, the island's first president, said. "We must shape its future. We are each other’s and our nation’s keepers. We the people are Barbados."

Barbados casts the removal of Elizabeth II, who is still queen of 15 other realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as a way to finally break with the demons of its colonial history."

Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Another one gone.

"BRIDGETOWN, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Barbados ditched Britain's Queen Elizabeth as head of state, forging a new republic on Tuesday with its first-ever president and severing its last remaining colonial bonds nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived at the Caribbean island.

At the strike of midnight, the new republic was born to cheers of hundreds of people lining Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown. A 21-gun salute fired as the national anthem of Barbados was played over a crowded Heroes Square.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, stood somberly as Queen Elizabeth's 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 that have the Queen as their sovereign.

"We the people must give Republic Barbados its spirit and its substance," Sandra Mason, the island's first president, said. "We must shape its future. We are each other’s and our nation’s keepers. We the people are Barbados."

Barbados casts the removal of Elizabeth II, who is still queen of 15 other realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as a way to finally break with the demons of its colonial history.

Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic

Hopefully Canada will follow suit.

 

[Audie]

Hopefully Canada will follow suit.

Are you aware of what China is doing in
Barbados?

 

[Altfish]

Hopefully Canada will follow suit.

Hopefully the UK will follow too

 

[Audie]

Hopefully the UK will follow too

You dont seem to realize where follow rhe leader is going.

 

[exchemist]

Another one gone.

"BRIDGETOWN, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Barbados ditched Britain's Queen Elizabeth as head of state, forging a new republic on Tuesday with its first-ever president and severing its last remaining colonial bonds nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived at the Caribbean island.

At the strike of midnight, the new republic was born to cheers of hundreds of people lining Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown. A 21-gun salute fired as the national anthem of Barbados was played over a crowded Heroes Square.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, stood somberly as Queen Elizabeth's 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 that have the Queen as their sovereign.

"We the people must give Republic Barbados its spirit and its substance," Sandra Mason, the island's first president, said. "We must shape its future. We are each other’s and our nation’s keepers. We the people are Barbados."

Barbados casts the removal of Elizabeth II, who is still queen of 15 other realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as a way to finally break with the demons of its colonial history.

Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic

What this report omits is the speech of Prince Charles, who was invited as a guest, in which he said: "The creation of this republic offers a new beginning." "From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery which forever stains our history, people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude."

According to the BBC report ,The Queen sent her "warmest good wishes" for "happiness, peace and prosperity in the future" and said the nation holds a "special place" in her heart.

So a dignified and cordial start to the new relationship - and suitably "woke" sentiments from the Prince.

 

[Audie]

What this report omits is the speech of Prince Charles, who was invited as a guest, in which he said: "The creation of this republic offers a new beginning." "From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery which forever stains our history, people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude."

According to the BBC report ,The Queen sent her "warmest good wishes" for "happiness, peace and prosperity in the future" and said the nation holds a "special place" in her heart.

So a dignified and cordial start to the new relationship - and suitably "woke" sentiments from the Prince.

Not that his speech is necessarily an example of why but said prince is imo a disgusting excuse for a man

 

[Altfish]

You dont seem to realize where follow rhe leader is going.

Yes, the end of a monarchy

 

[exchemist]

Not that his speech is necessarily an example of why but said prince is imo a disgusting excuse for a man

Then why not start a thread about it?

 

[Audie]

Yes, the end of a monarchy

You really dont get it that China is doing
Japan's "coprosperity" , but doing it smart and on steroids?

 

[Audie]

Then why not start a thread about it?

Nah

 

[Altfish]

You really dont get it that China is doing
Japan's "coprosperity" , but doing it smart and on steroids?

What has that got to do with the UK ditching the monarchy

 

[Audie]

What has that got to do with the UK ditching the monarchy

I was referring to canada first, but "follow suit" about Chinese takeover not
local freedom.

Ftm, QE2 and empire cant come back too
soon for this former crown colony.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Hopefully Canada will follow suit.

Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in history -- and I was born in the reign of her father, King George VI. At the age of 4, I was made a "ward of the crown," which meant that, in a sense, ER was my "legal guardian." I confess it, I'm something of a monarchist. I rather like the trappings, and the crown does, in fact, hold a few quite special powers, even though it never interferes in politics. One, of course, is the right to be informed of everything going on her government, and to "advise and warn" the Prime Minister of the day. One should remember that she has personally met pretty much every leader in the world over the past 70 years, and has "seen it all."

But Canada's government is referred to as "responsible" because it retains power only so long as it has the support of Parliament -- and when that support is gone, the Monarch (or the Monarch's representative the Governor General) does have the power to force the government to resign and call an election.

 

[Audie]

Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in history -- and I was born in the reign of her father, King George VI. At the age of 4, I was made a "ward of the crown," which meant that, in a sense, ER was my "legal guardian." I confess it, I'm something of a monarchist. I rather like the trappings, and the crown does, in fact, hold a few quite special powers, even though it never interferes in politics. One, of course, is the right to be informed of everything going on her government, and to "advise and warn" the Prime Minister of the day. One should remember that she has personally met pretty much every leader in the world over the past 70 years, and has "seen it all."

But Canada's government is referred to as "responsible" because it retains power only so long as it has the support of Parliament -- and when that support is gone, the Monarch (or the Monarch's representative the Governor General) does have the power to force the government to resign and call an election.

We love the trappings too

 

[We Never Know]

What this report omits is the speech of Prince Charles, who was invited as a guest, in which he said: "The creation of this republic offers a new beginning." "From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery which forever stains our history, people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude."

According to the BBC report ,The Queen sent her "warmest good wishes" for "happiness, peace and prosperity in the future" and said the nation holds a "special place" in her heart.

So a dignified and cordial start to the new relationship - and suitably "woke" sentiments from the Prince.

It didn't omit it. It's right there in the link I posted. There are 19 more short paragraph's that I didn't post. All a person has to do is open the link and read it.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Sad yet inevitable, a sign of the times, another symptom of a collapsed old world order.

I see just Kings and Queens were a light to the world throughout history and it may be they will return in the future. Unfortunately there were also many that were very dark.

Regards Tony

 

[Harel13]

The Queen sent her "warmest good wishes" for "happiness, peace and prosperity in the future" and said the nation holds a "special place" in her heart.

So a dignified and cordial start to the new relationship - and suitably "woke" sentiments from the Prince.

The Queen always had more sense than all of her descendants put together.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in history -- and I was born in the reign of her father, King George VI. At the age of 4, I was made a "ward of the crown," which meant that, in a sense, ER was my "legal guardian." I confess it, I'm something of a monarchist. I rather like the trappings, and the crown does, in fact, hold a few quite special powers, even though it never interferes in politics. One, of course, is the right to be informed of everything going on her government, and to "advise and warn" the Prime Minister of the day. One should remember that she has personally met pretty much every leader in the world over the past 70 years, and has "seen it all."

But Canada's government is referred to as "responsible" because it retains power only so long as it has the support of Parliament -- and when that support is gone, the Monarch (or the Monarch's representative the Governor General) does have the power to force the government to resign and call an election.

It's fine if you like Elizabeth as our head of state.

In fact, what we could do is ask every citizen in the country to indicate whether they also like Elizabeth being our head of state. If the majority says "yes," we could keep her.

Of course, to be fair, we could also ask people about other people who they might like as our head of state and give the job to the person with the most support. We could also repeat the process every few years to make sure that sentiments haven't changed.

If Queen Elizabeth was your "legal guardian," what kind of job did she do? Did she ever even speak to you in person?

To switch metaphors: she's an absentee landlord. Canada has never had a de jure head of state who's actually lived here. If anything else, I think it would be good for Canada to have a head of state who's Canadian, by birth or by choice.

The royal family themselves are under no illusion about who they are – British; where they live – Britain; and what they represent – the United Kingdom. When I was posted to Bonn in the nineties, Queen Elizabeth paid an official visit to Berlin largely to promote British industry. Ambassadors from Commonwealth countries were convened to Berlin, at their countries' expense, to greet the Queen (in reality a photo-op). Because there were Canadian firms in Germany that could have used some high-level support, and because my credentials said that it was in her name and on her behalf that I was accredited as the Ambassador of Canada to Germany, I decided to test what the Monarchists' assertions – that she is our Queen, too – meant in practice.

Not much, as it turned out. I asked an aide at the photo-op whether while promoting UK business her majesty might put in a good word for Canadian business too. It was evident from his reaction that such an idea was as unwelcome as it was novel. Years later, Kate and William, following their rapturous welcome in Canada, headed to Hollywood where they promoted British artists. Plus ça change…

The monarchy hurts Canada’s standing in the world. It’s time to let go

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

It's fine if you like Elizabeth as our head of state.

In fact, what we could do is ask every citizen in the country to indicate whether they also like Elizabeth being our head of state. If the majority says "yes," we could keep her.

Of course, to be fair, we could also ask people about other people who they might like as our head of state and give the job to the person with the most support. We could also repeat the process every few years to make sure that sentiments haven't changed.

If Queen Elizabeth was your "legal guardian," what kind of job did she do? Did she ever even speak to you in person?

To switch metaphors: she's an absentee landlord. Canada has never had a de jure head of state who's actually lived here. If anything else, I think it would be good for Canada to have a head of state who's Canadian, by birth or by choice.



The monarchy hurts Canada’s standing in the world. It’s time to let go

My remark on "legal guardian" was, as I'm sure you realized, something of a red herring and totally silly.

It's an interesting fact, though, that while 36% of Canadians really think we should get rid of the monarchy, another 33% would prefer to keep it -- and that's within the statistical margin of error. Everybody else doesn't care or doesn't know.

Therefore, I think what's keeping us where we are might well be apathy...plain and simple.