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After years of attempts, Barbados is officially set to end ties with the British Monarchy.
According to reports the eastern Caribbean nation will officially be removing Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and installing Governor General Sandra Mason as its president on November 30.
"This is monumental from our point of view," Suleiman Bulbulia, a member of the committee in charge of analyzing the change in leadership told Bloomberg News. "This is next step in our journey –– cutting the umbilical cord that connects us to the UK."
And while Barbados has been a sovereign nation since 1966, this transition marks the first time in 30 years the Queen has been removed from one of her realms. The Caribbean has nine of the 16 British commonwealth realms.
"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind," General Mason said in 2020, when the transition was announced. "Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state."
Bulbulia said the transition of power will be a "psychological boost" to the nation's some 287,000 people. Additionally, its economy is not expected to be significantly impacted by the transition.
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