Any decision Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas make on their futures will be supported with “pride and respect”, the Duke of Cambridge has said.
On the final night of the royals’ Caribbean tour, he said: “Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.”
There have been calls in Jamaica to drop the Queen as head of state, and on Wednesday its prime minister told the duke the country was “moving on”.
In November Barbados replaced the Queen with an elected president.
The future role of the royal family in the Caribbean has been a central topic throughout the duke and duchess’s eight-day tour.
After the couple left Belize on Tuesday, a government minister announced a new commission would begin consulting with people across the country on how the “decolonization process” should proceed.
On Wednesday, during a meeting with the Cambridges in front of cameras, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said his country intended to “fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country”.
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis has not commented on the issue, although last year said it was “not on the agenda”.
However, the day before the duke and duchess arrived in the Bahamas, a letter was released by campaign group The National Reparations Committee, calling for Britain to pay reparations for the slave trade. (BBC)
