Prince William and Kate are currently touring the Caribbean to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The tour includes Belize—which is where they visited at the weekend—Jamaica and the Bahamas. But it would seem that not everyone is pleased to see the Royal couple.
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Jamaica no longer wants the Queen
The Jamaican government has already begun the process of removing the Queen as their head of state. A political source has said:
The government has had to start the process; the road to becoming a republic is not an easy one but they have long been coming under significant pressure to do it,
Prince William and Kate arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday and were once again greeted with protests. People were protesting outside the British High Commission against the visit, demanding reparations and apologies from the crown for slavery.
There were around 350 people outside the British High Commission. Many were holding signs which read ‘Princesses and Princes belonged in fairytales not Jamaica’ and ‘We demand apologies and reparations’.
There is some resistance
Despite the protests, there are some that think the process won’t happen anytime soon due to the country’s leader being appointed to the Queen’s Privy Council—a body of advisors to the sovereign last year.
One campaigner told The Independent:
I doubt the government will move quickly the prime minister just accepted the position on her Majesty's Privy Council
For many, it is the symbolism behind the reparations would mean, as it would be ‘removing the shackles of its colonial past’.
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Not the first country to remove the Queen as head of state
Jamaica wouldn’t be the first country to remove Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. Indeed Barbados removed the Queen as their head of state in 2020.
Jamaica is celebrating its 60th anniversary and they want to become a Republic.
