Is it Time for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Sever Ties with the British Monarchy Over Slavery Injustices?

It is laughable in the eyes of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ current Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, that King Charles III continues to serve as the country’s official head of state.

Gonsalves, who is 76 years old, has the expectation that during his lifetime he would be able to see the cutting of the umbilical cord that connects his nation and the British monarchy, putting an end to what he considers to be an absurdity. In addition to this, he is requesting an apology from the government of the United Kingdom for the wrongs that were done in the past in reference to slavery.

The cutting the cord

Gonsalves expressed his desire for the end of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ ties with the British monarchy during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s The World At One program. He said, “It’s something that I’m hoping to see consummated, the severing of the umbilical cord between our country and the British monarch.” Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will continue to be a part of the Commonwealth despite the fact that King Charles is aware of this fact and that we have had friendly conversations about it.

A second leader in the Caribbean has called for an end to the monarchy

Since King Charles III was crowned, Gonsalves is the second Caribbean politician to call for the break of links with the monarchy. Gonsalves’s appeal comes less than a year after the crowning of King Charles III. Terrance Drew, the leader of the Labour Party of St. Kitts and Nevis, who won a quick election in August, stated that his nation “is not totally free” as long as King Charles is the head of state, which is an indication that the Eastern Caribbean country might be the next to become a republic.

An Apology for Any Wrongs Done in the Past

The demands made by Gonsalves and Drew to cut relations with the monarchy come at a time when there are rising requests for an apology from the government of the United Kingdom for historical wrongdoings done in relation to slavery. Buckingham Palace declared that King Charles III took the subject of slavery “profoundly seriously,” and cited his backing for a ground-breaking inquiry of the monarchy’s historical links with slavery as evidence.