Jamaica has begun plans to remove the Queen as head of state, reports say

Jamaica has begun the process of removing Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, government sources have told The Independent. This comes amid Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal tour of the Caribbean in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

According to The Independent, a senior figure within Jamaica’s government has been appointed to oversee the country’s transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.

“The government has had to start the process; the road to becoming a republic is not an easy one but they have long been coming under significant pressure to do it,” a political source told the outlet.

Ever since Barbados officially removed the Queen as its head of state, people have been asking the six other Caribbean states to do the same. On Tuesday when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Jamaica as part of an eight-day Caribbean tour, they were greeted by protests outside the British High Commission, with campaigners demanding reparations for the slave trade and an official apology.

The Advocates Network, a coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors and musicians, wrote an open letter to Prince William and Kate highlighting reasons the monarchy should pay reparations. The letter was handed to the British High Commission on Tuesday.

Earlier on Sunday, Prince William and Kate Middleton had to cancel a visit to a cocoa farm in Belize after villagers staged a protest about colonialism and the use of a local football field to land a helicopter that transported the royal couple.