IN SHARP CONTRAST to the comparatively cool, low-keyed reception given to the Earl and Countess of Wessex in Barbados last week, Jamaicans seem to have lavished Prince Harry with a rousing welcome for his four-day tour.
The visits to selected CARICOM states, that also included Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and The Bahamas by members of the Royal family, had to do with marking Queen Elizabeth’s remarkable Diamond Jubilee.
During the spotty, emotional controversies that emerged during the visit to Barbados by the Royals – which saw a revival of some healthy discussion on this nation’s lingering monarchical governance system – a few individuals even succeeded in evoking amusement with by either a self-serving media-oriented “boycott” or ad hoc poor showings of anti-British placards.
Somehow, even those learned in constitutional governance and by no means defenders of either Britain or the monarchical system of governance, seemed to have expediently forgotten that official visits by members of the Royal family cannot occur in any of the 54-member Commonwealth, of which the British monarch is titular head, without the expressed willingness and interest on the part of a host government.
The governments of Jamaica and Barbados would, therefore, have their own reasons for wanting to play host to a Royal visit at this time.
A significant difference in the Jamaica and Barbados responses is that while Jamaicans were exhaling over their Royal visitor, their Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was making it clear that her administration would be proceeding with plans for a “Jamaican Queen” as Head of State.
In contrast, such clarity for changing in the constitutional governance system is absent in Barbados, where both the Democratic Labour Party and Barbados Labour Party continue to engage in “footsie politics” over termination of the monarchical system in favour of a constitutional republic with a Bajan as Head of State.
With the possibility of a general election coming long before Christmas in the face of spreading apprehension about the country’s economic fortunes, no one familiar with the politics of the Dems and Bees should seriously expect either to pursue initiatives any time soon for Barbados’ constitutional change to republican status.
Prince Edward and his Princess wife could be forgiven if they carried with them back to Britain some lingering disappointments about the coolness of their Barbados welcome.
After all, they had journeyed here on behalf of Queen Elizabeth – Barbados’ Head of State.
At any rate, the question of immediate relevance is, whether – like Jamaica – Barbados is seriously interested in moving forward to be a constitutional republic.
• Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.
