Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew said he plans to hold public consultations towards dropping the British Monarch as St Kitts and Nevis’ head of state.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Drew did not give a date when the consultations will begin but he said “that discussion will start sometime during my leadership”.
Drew said St Kitts and Nevis, which became an independent state nearly 40 years ago, is “not totally free” as long as King Charles III remains as the head of state.
St Kitts and Nevis joins Belize and Jamaica in expressing an intention to drop the British Monarch as head of state.
Belize and Jamaica have established commissions to guide the governments towards becoming republics.
Barbados became the world’s latest republic on 30 November 2021 when it officially removed Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.
King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, was on hand to witness the historic moment.
“The creation of this republic offers a new beginning, but it also marks a point on a continuum – a milestone on the long road you have not only travelled but which you have built,” he said in a speech at National Heroes Square.
“As your constitutional status changes, it was important to me that I should join you to reaffirm those things which do not change
“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.”
Drew also told journalist Celestina Olulode that apart from becoming a republic, St Kitts and Nevis would like King Charles III to apologise for the monarchy’s historic role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
“I think that acknowledging that…something wrong was done, acknowledging it and apologising for it, is a step in the right direction,” he said.
For his part, King Charles III acknowledged “the appalling atrocity of slavery” in the Caribbean during his speech in Barbados.
Last month, Buckingham Palace said King Charles III was cooperating with an independent study exploring the relationship between the British monarchy and the slave trade.
