Now Wessex tour flies into republic row

THE Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda intends to become a republic, the Earl and Countess of Wessex were told yesterday on a trip to highlight the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

In echoes of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Jamaica last month, when similar comments were made, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie listened intently as Prime Minister Gaston Browne said it was his country’s wish to ‘one day become a republic’.

He stressed that it was ‘not on the cards’ yet – certainly not during the Queen’s lifetime – but emphasised his nation would one day follow in the footsteps of other former colonies such as Barbados in relinquishing the British monarch as their head of state.