The eastern Caribbean island of Barbados has just decided to remove the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth ll, as its head of state and appoint as an independent republic its own president.
A friendly ceremony recently marked the transfer and the queen sent a message of good wishes.
There is nothing very remarkable about that; it is a pathway that numerous Commonwealth countries (ex-colonies of the former British Empire) have taken. That said, it leaves the state in question still a member of the Commonwealth, of which the British queen is the head, but no longer with the status of a realm under the Crown. The Barbadians themselves will probably notice little difference.
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