The prime minister of Belize, a former British colony in the Caribbean, said ‘there is no excitement’ among his compatriots for the coronation.
Jamaica and Belize are looking at ditching King Charles as their head of state and becoming republics, leading politicians from both countries said Thursday ahead of his coronation. The comments come just before the monarch, who ascended the throne when his mother Queen Elizabeth died last September, is formally crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Jamaica and Belize are former British colonies in the Caribbean that have been independent nations for decades. But, like 12 other Commonwealth countries outside Britain – including Australia, Canada and New Zealand – they retain the constitutional monarchy system of government and have King Charles as their head of state, with a local governor-general performing duties on his behalf. Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica’s minister for legal and constitutional affairs, said King Charles’s coronation has accelerated the island’s plans to become a republic. “Time has come. Jamaica in Jamaican hands,” she told Britain’s Sky News television. “We have to get it done, especially with the transition in the monarchy. My government is saying we have to do it now.
