Barbados throws off final vestiges of colonial past

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After 340 years of British order and 56 years of independence, Barbados threw off a final links to colonialism in Nov final year by ditching a Queen as conduct of state.

It was a bloodless and wholly considerate affair, and a immature commonwealth — a easternmost island in a Caribbean — will sojourn resolutely ensconced in a 54-nation Commonwealth.

And while tiaras and other stately accoutrements no longer reign, a accessible Barbadians — or “Bajans” — are as fervent as ever to acquire visitors to their rather removed bliss surrounded wholly by a Atlantic Ocean.

Besides, Grammy-winning thespian and businessman Rihanna is already stuffing a 95-year-old Queen’s bench — during slightest unofficially. Always penetrating to foster her homeland, a Barbadian-born cocktail prodigy was among a dignitaries during a central handover ceremonies in 2021, and was hailed a “national hero.”

All of that is not to contend a little republic, that spans only 430 block kilometres in a Lesser Antilles archipelago, is not about to give adult a afternoon tea, passion for cricket and pints of shandy — extraordinary rum punches, notwithstanding — any time soon.

After scarcely three-and-a-half centuries of drifting a Union Jack, Barbados and a roughly 300,000 people have for some time, for improved or worse, been famous as a many British island of a Caribbean.

Those colonial beginnings can be seen in Holetown, site of a initial British allotment in 1627. Originally named Jamestown after a benefactor, King James I, it warranted a moniker for a careless and frowzy load unloaded in a cramped channel.