Jamaica, a Commonwealth country of which Charles III is king, wants to break away from the British crown and quickly become a republic, said the Jamaican minister in charge of constitutional issues on the British channel Sky News on Thursday.
” The time has come. Jamaica in Jamaican hands,” said Marlene Malahoo Forte, indicating that Kingston was considering holding a referendum on the issue next year.
The announcement falls badly for Charles III – king of Jamaica like 14 other kingdoms around the world – two days before his coronation with great pomp in London.
“Many Jamaicans had a warm affection for Queen Elizabeth II,” said Ms. Malahoo Forte, recalling that the monarch was already on the throne when Jamaica became independent in 1962.
“But they don’t identify with King Charles. He is the most alien to us,” she added.
Referring to the “complex” relationship between the two countries, Ms. Malahoo Forte said that becoming a republic was “saying goodbye to a form of government that is linked to a painful past of colonization and slave trade”.
During a trip by Prince William to the Caribbean in early 2022, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness had already deemed his country’s transition to a republican regime “inevitable”.
William and his wife Kate’s tour had resulted in a difficult confrontation marred by protests, and the couple were called upon to apologize for the UK’s slavery past.
The Royal Family never formally issued an apology, Charles merely calling slavery a “terrible atrocity”, while William expressed his “deep sadness”.
Republican tendencies are increasingly strong in certain Commonwealth kingdoms, some of which want to follow the example of Barbados, which became a republic in 2021.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda had also announced his intention to organize a referendum on the subject “in the next three years”.