“Does this mean Rihanna can now be crowned queen of Barbados?” was admittedly our first question when we learned the Caribbean island would be removing British monarch Queen Elizabeth II as its symbolic head of state 55 years after declaring its independence from the United Kingdom. In case you’re wondering, no, Rih will unfortunately not be bearing the crown. Barbados will officially be declared a republic as it celebrates its 55th anniversary of independence, also remaining part of the Commonwealth, now primarily comprised of former British territories. The nation is the first to do so since Mauritius in 1992.
It will also be led by Black women: on Tuesday, November 30, Governor General and Dame Sandra Mason, previously the queen’s representative in Barbados, will become its first president, having earned two-thirds of the vote across both houses of Parliament. Current Prime Minister Mia Mottley will lead the island’s newly formed government.
As explained by the Washington Post:
The move, debated for years, gained momentum amid the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and growing demands for reparations for slavery on the island. Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced last year that the nation of 300,000 would become a republic by Tuesday, the 55th anniversary of its independence.
That means removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, a break with nearly four centuries of history in the former British colony...Its new government is to be led by Mottley, a London School of Economics-trained former chairwoman of the Caribbean Community, fresh from her turn lecturing world leaders on vaccine hoarding at the U.N. General Assembly and the need for climate finance measures at COP26. Governor General Sandra Mason, until now the queen’s representative on the island, will be its first president.
“Having obtained independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for self-governance. The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” said Mason in her 2020 opening of parliament speech (h/t People). “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence of who we are and what we are capable of achieving.”
Prince Charles, presumptively the future head of the Commonwealth, arrived on Sunday as Guest of Honor at the Republic Celebration and will speak at a Monday night transition ceremony. People magazine procured a portion of the prince’s proposed remarks:
“As your constitutional status changes, it was important to me that I should join you to reaffirm those things which do not change,” Charles is set to say. “For example, the close and trusted partnership between Barbados and the United Kingdom as vital members of the Commonwealth; our common determination to defend the values we both cherish and to pursue the goals we share; and the myriad connections between the people of our countries – through which flow admiration and affection, co-operation and opportunity – strengthening and enriching us all.”
However, according to a new book, the prince might not have been as gracious when it came to considering what his grandchildren born to Prince Harry and then-fiancée Meghan Markle might look like. As reported by People, the soon-to-be-released Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan substantiates damning claims made by Harry and Meghan in their March interview with Oprah that an unnamed top-ranking royal had expressed concern about their unborn children’s skin color. The couple declined to name the relative except to say it was neither the Queen nor the late Prince Philip; but according to “a source close to the royal family,” the royal in question was Harry’s father Charles.
From People:
In Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan, by Christopher Andersen, a source close to the royal family claims that Charles made the comment during a conversation over breakfast with his wife Camilla on the day the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s engagement was announced.
“I wonder what the children will look like?” Charles mused to Camilla, according to Page Six.
Camilla was said to be “taken aback somewhat by the question” and noted that the child would be “absolutely gorgeous.”
Allegedly lowering his voice, Charles then asked: “I mean, what do you suppose their children’s complexion might be?”
Granted, it’s a question many Black families might’ve dared to speculate on as well (y’all know how hung up we can be on color). As disconcerting as the remarks might be coming from the future king of England (especially considering the turmoil and ongoing rift that followed), even author Andersen downplayed the implications of the question during a Monday morning appearance on the Today show.
“On the morning that Meghan and Harry’s engagement was announced, in a very kind of benign way, Prince Charles started to muse on what their future grandchildren might look like,” said Andersen, according to People.
“I mean, here’s this beautiful biracial American woman and the world’s most famous redhead,” he added. “I’m a grandfather, of course, we all do this, speculate on it. But it was turned into something very toxic, it was weaponized by the ‘Men in Gray’ who run the palace organization. Unfortunately, by the time it got to Harry, that’s the way he took it.”
Whether benign or not, Prince Charles is clearly taking the clai seriously. His spokesman denied the report, telling outlets: “This is fiction and not worth further comment.”
However, Andersen’s book, which hits shelves on Tuesday, doesn’t absolve the royals of all pettiness—including the deliberate removal of Harry and Meghan’s family photo from Queen Elizabeth’s annual televised 2019 Christmas address after the couple decided to spend the holiday in Canada.
“(The queen) loves all of her children and grandchildren, there’s no doubt about that,” he told Today. “But when it comes to ‘The Firm,’ as they call the royal family, she is all business.
“That’s why she wouldn’t allow Harry and Meghan to remain as kind of part-time royals on the terms that they wanted,” he added.
Andersen contends the snub may have contributed to the Sussexes’ permanent departure from royal life.
“Harry did feel as if he was being, according to a friend of his, was being erased slowly from the family,” he said. “That was quite the signal that the queen was sending.”