Barbados’ governor-general Dame Sandra Mason announced their decision yesterday, saying that “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind”. She said the Caribbean island wanted “full sovereignty” by the time it celebrates its 55th anniversary of independence from the UK in November 2021. Now, there are rumblings that more countries out of the 16 Commonwealth realms may want to break apart from the British monarchy and set up their own head of state.
Australia might be the first on the list after Brexit stirred up the anti-monarchy movement down under back in 2016.
Australia, which became an independent nation in 1901, has had the Queen as their head of state and Union Jack incorporated into their flag as a sign of its continued links to the UK.
However, in the aftermath of the Brexit vote in 2016, an AusExit campaign was revived, with membership surging for the republican movement as some started questioning the benefits of remaining part of ‘little Britain’.
Peter FitzSimons, chairman of Australia’s republican movement, said Australia had belonged to the British Empire but the historic ties between the nations was becoming less relevant because “Great Britain barely exists anymore”.
READ MORE: Canada could follow Barbados in ditching Queen as head of state
Queen Elizabeth II is Australia’s head of state (Image: GETTY)
The Queen with Barbados’ governor-general Dame Sandra Mason (Image: GETTY)
He told ABC Radio: “It’s one thing for the monarchists to say ‘we should be staying so very closely aligned for Great Britain’, but how do you feel about staying so closely aligned to little Britain?
“From the moment that Brexit came through, social media came alive with people saying, ‘this is ridiculous, let us be our own people, let us get away from this’.”
Mr FitzSimons, a journalist and writer who previously played for the Australian rugby union team, said that if Australia abandoned the British monarchy it would be a unifying moment of national pride, rather than a “divisive and horrible campaign as was Brexit”.
He added; “[We’re] not looking to Brexit as the model at all.
Boris Johnson is leading the UK through Brexit this year (Image: GETTY)
“We’re just saying that it’s ludicrous in the 21st century to say that Australia cannot do better than finding our heads of state from one family of English aristocrats living in a palace in London.
“We’re better than that as a people.”
On the other hand, the monarchist movement said Britain’s vote has “nothing whatsoever to do with changing from a constitutional monarchy to a republic”.
Philip Benwell, chairman of the Australian Monarchist League, said: “For the republicans to say that it gives an excuse to become a republic is total, apparent nonsense.”
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The Queen in Australia in 1977 (Image: GETTY)
During the Nineties, Malcolm Turnball led the charge as the chairman of the republican movement, and later served as Australia’s Prime Minister from 2015-2018.
However, in 1999 Australians voted against the move.
Nonetheless, it is a widely-held belief that this should be re-examined at the end of the Queen’s reign as her personal popularity vastly outstrips that of her son and future King, Prince Charles.
That said, the Queen herself has not been free of scandal when it comes to Australia.
She has been mired by rumours around a 40-year-old political dispute regarding which she has only recently been cleared of wrongdoing.
In July this year, historic letters were published that proved the Queen had no prior knowledge of a so-called coup that shook Australian politics in 1975.
For years, the controversy hovered over Her Majesty’s head, with some suggesting she diverted from her apolitical role, giving fodder to anti-monarchist arguments.
The scandal revolved around the controversial sacking of Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Sir John Kerr, the Australian governor-general at the time, after Mr Whitlam failed to get his budget through Parliament and refused to call a poll.
Gough Whitlam (left) and the Queen with Sir John Kerr (right) (Image: GETTY)
The Whitlam government, run by the Australian Labour Party (ALP) was then replaced by the opposition Liberal Party led by Malcom Fraser.
Sir John was the Queen’s representative in the country and, whilst having the right to make such a decision, it was highly controversial and the matter caused something of a constitutional crisis.
The Queen, 94, is a constitutional head of state of the UK and Commonwealth realms and, as such, should not wade into political matters.
Yet, she was dogged for years by speculation that she was somehow involved in the removal of Mr Whitlam.
The letters, which were kept secret for more than four decades, were published two months ago and showed the Queen played no role in that decision.
This was a huge vindication for the Queen, and took away a major argument in favour of republicanism in Australia.
