Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic

Britain's Prince Charles speaks with Barbados' President-elect Sandra Mason as he arrives at Grantley Adams Airport to take part in events to mark the Caribbean island's transition to a birth of a new republic, Bridgetown, Barbados, November 28, 2021. Picture taken November 28, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville

BRIDGETOWN (Reuters) - Barbados ditched Britain's Queen Elizabeth as head of state, forging a new republic on Tuesday with its first-ever president and severing its last remaining colonial bonds nearly 400 years after the first English ships arrived at the Caribbean island.

At the strike of midnight, the new republic was born to cheers of hundreds of people lining Chamberlain Bridge in the capital, Bridgetown. A 21-gun salute fired as the national anthem of Barbados was played over a crowded Heroes Square.