NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prince William has expressed his support for The Bahamas’ decision about its future in a speech at the Governor General’s reception at Baha Mar tonight.
While acknowledging the country’s upcoming 50 years of independence, Prince William said: “We support with pride and respect your decision about your future. Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.”
The Bahamas was under British rule for almost 200 years before it was granted its independence on July 10, 1973.
Queen Elizabeth II remains the monarch and head of state for The Bahamas, though her powers are largely symbolic as she is not involved in day-to-day governing, a constitutional role of the elected Parliament and prime ministers.
While there has been no expressed position from the government on a move to cut ties with the monarch and become a republic, it would require constitutional change by way of a referendum.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in The Bahamas on the last stop of their Caribbean tour in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, which celebrates 70 years of her ascension to the throne.
The reception saw dozens of invited guests gather at the multi-billion dollar resort of West Bay Street in black-tie attire.
The Duke of Cambridge reportedly expressed sentiments of “profound sorrow” for the “atrocities” of slavery during an address to Jamaica’s prime minister and other officials on Wednesday, but stopped short at proferring an apology.
According to The UK Guardian, William also addressed the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade and expressed gratitude to Jamaicans who helped to rebuild the UK after the second world war.
The tour has inflamed anti-colonial sentiment in the region with calls for reparations and for former colonies to sever ties with the Commonwealth by seeking to become a republic.
Several protestors demonstrated at the Sybil Strachan Primary School ahead of the first stop on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s tour in New Providence today.
Protestors included members of the Bahamian Rastafarian community, the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress Bahamas branch, who were advocating for reparations and compensation and activist group Family of All Murdered Victims (FOAM), who were demonstrating for the rights of women.
The Bahamas Reparations Committee has rejected Prince William’s speech on slavery and racism while in Jamaica as “not enough”, insisting that a full and formal acknowledgment of the Royal Family’s crimes against humanity could not be sidestepped.
