A recent royal tour intensified a spotlight on Britain’s colonial history, renewing questions about how much longer a double-digit list of Commonwealth countries — including Canada — will have a monarch as their head of state.
The week-long tour, which wrapped up last weekend, saw Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, visit Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas in a bid to shore up ties between Britain and those countries.
Instead, the trip drew protests and public demands for reparations for slavery, and saw unexpected news from Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness that his country intends to become fully independent.
In doing so, Jamaica would become the second
