Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has clarified Barbados’ decision to become a parliamentary republic, suggesting it was not intended to be a snub to British rule.
Speaking at a British High Commission reception in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday and platinum jubilee Wednesday night, Mottley told British High Commissioner Scott Furssedonn-Wood: “As the newest parliamentary republic in the world, it is also important that we let it be known that the determination to craft our own future is not in any way a reflection on the high esteem in which we hold Her Majesty, and therefore we would wish formally to communicate that that sense of pleasure; that sense of congratulations that we want to share with you, should be made clear to all, particularly given the fact that there may be some who may feel that our decision to become that new parliamentary republic was in any way a reflection on our relationship with the UK.”
Mottley congratulated the British monarch for her tireless work at “bringing stability to the Commonwealth of Nations of which Barbados is a member.
“Over the course of the last seven decades, Her Majesty has been able to keep the United Kingdom firmly under her control and to bring dignity in everything that she has done with respect to the affairs of that nation. For that I think all of us are grateful because it is not only to the United Kingdom that that stability has come, but also to the Commonwealth of Nations of which our country is a member,” Mottley added. (GC)
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