Anti-monarchist movements are sweeping the Commonwealth as many of the fourteen overseas countries where King Charles III is head of state plan to hold referendums.
One of these is Jamaica, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness wants to hold a vote this year, amid a growing push to become an independent country. He was pictured meeting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at a film premiere in Kingston last night.
Barbados has abolished the monarchy in 2021 – while Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and the Bahamas are among others showing interest in cutting ties with the British crown.
When he assumed the crown after the death of his mother, Charles became head of state not only of Great Britain, but also of fourteen other empires, including Canada and Australia.
But a poll by Lord Ashcroft published in the Daily Mail last year found that almost half of the wealthy would vote to become republics if a referendum were held at the time.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has previously said he wants a referendum by 2025, while Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis is calling for the same – and Belize’s Johnny Briceño has insisted the country is ‘very likely’ to have one will become a republic.
Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew wants a referendum during his leadership, while Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has called for another referendum after one failed to pass in 2009.
In Australia, the government indicated earlier this month that plans for a referendum had been put on hold, with one minister saying such a vote was “not a priority” and that there is “no timeline” for it.
This is despite the idea that voting is a long-standing policy of the country’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Australia expects a visit from Charles later this year.
Canada has no plans for a referendum at this stage, while New Zealand has no immediate plans to seek secession from the monarchy.
Other areas believed not to be pushing for a referendum at this stage include Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia and the Solomon Islands.
Tuvalu is also not thought to have plans for another referendum after it failed in 2008.
Yesterday, Meghan and Harry – who revealed they are stepping down as senior royals in January 2020 – joined Mr Holness and his wife Juliet in Jamaica at the premiere of the new Bob Marley film One Love.
In March 2022, during a visit by Prince William and Kate, Mr Holness said Jamaica was “moving on” and embracing its destiny as an independent country, later calling the move to a republican model “inevitable.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet last night for the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love at the Carib Theater in Kingston
Mr Holness reaffirmed this in March last year, saying Jamaica was “making progress” on its plans to remove “foreign monarch” Charles as head of state, adding that there were “ambitious timelines” in action to make progress books towards the ‘road to the future’. republic’.
He also announced a constitutional reform commission to help with the transition.
Jamaica, a former colony of Britain, has started the process of severing ties with the British monarchy, following in the footsteps of Barbados.
The history of slavery and plantation economics made some Britons wealthy but left many Jamaicans impoverished.
Jamaica first fell into the hands of England in 1655 when it was conquered from Spain, which had brought the first Africans over as slaves.
It became independent in 1962, but retained the British monarch as head of state and remained in the Commonwealth.
Waves of immigration to Britain kept ties alive, as did affection for Queen Elizabeth II, who was on the throne at the time of independence.
But even before her death in September 2022, republican sentiment was gaining traction in the Caribbean.
To become a republic, Jamaica’s Constitution requires a two-thirds majority in both the elected and nominated Houses of Parliament and a simple majority in a general referendum.
An image accompanying an opinion poll by Lord Ashcroft, published in the Daily Mail in May last year
However, if it gains a two-thirds majority in the elected House, but only a simple majority in the nominated House, a two-thirds majority of the electorate will be required in a referendum.
The Windrush scandal that emerged in 2017, in which hundreds of immigrants were detained or deported to Britain after living there for years, has increased the grievances of people in Jamaica.
During William and Kate’s 2022 visit, protesters held signs demanding the couple apologize for slavery — and at a formal state dinner, William expressed “deep sadness.”
But he stopped short of a formal apology, as did his father, Charles, who spoke of his “personal sorrow at the suffering of so many” in a speech to Commonwealth leaders later that year.
Charles also recognized growing republican sentiment in some Commonwealth countries and said it was up to them to decide their constitutional arrangements.
About 600,000 Africans were brought to Jamaica as slaves between the 15th and 19th centuries to work on sugar, cotton and banana plantations.
The British government was involved in the Atlantic slave trade and compensated plantation owners for the loss of labor that occurred when slavery was outlawed in 1834.
Prince Harry and Meghan with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet
Research by former Conservative vice-chairman Lord Ashcroft last May found that of the 14 overseas countries where Charles is head of state, six – Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Solomon Islands and Antigua and Barbuda – would vote to abolish the government. monarchy at the time of the elections.
Of those polled, 42 percent of Australians were in favor of a republic, while 35 percent were against, while 47 percent of Canadians wanted change, while only 23 percent were in favor of the monarchy.
Almost all of the other eight countries with Charles as head of state – New Zealand, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu – are at stake.
According to the survey of 11,251 people, only Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu had significant majorities in favor of maintaining the status quo.