Barbados should become a republic and leave its colonial past behind, a top official said on Wednesday, after the Caribbean island nation said it wants to remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as its head of state. A former British colony that gained independence in 1966, the nation of just under 300,000 has maintained a formal link with the British monarchy as have some other countries that were once part of the British empire. “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” said Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason, delivering a speech on behalf of the country’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
