4 days ago
Grenada government drops oath of allegiance to King Charles
It comes amid growing calls to remove the monarch as the Caribbean island's head of state.
As reported in the Guardian, the Grenadian government said that the parliament had agreed bills to amend the country's constitution in "a commendable display of national unity".
(Image: PA) The change will remove the words "His Majesty King Charles the Third, His Heirs and Successors" from the pledge of allegiance and replace them with "Grenada".
In a statement, Grenada's prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, said: "The unanimous support for this amendment demonstrates our shared commitment to national identity and constitutional progress and while we may differ on many issues, today we stand together in affirming that our allegiance belongs to Grenada and its people."
He went on to tell local media: "I don't think anyone in their right mind will expect me – or any future prime minister of Grenada – on taking the oath of office to serve them, that I should be swearing allegiance to King Charles, his heirs and successor.
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"What is it about King Charles that is superior to me, that requires me not to swear allegiance to the people of Grenada but to him?"
Mitchell added: "Sovereign countries have excellent bilateral relations. That doesn't mean that you have to swear allegiance to the head of a state of another foreign country."
He said that this had only happened because Grenada was a former British colony, not because it was voted on by Grenadians.
The governor-general, Dame Cecile La Grenade, the Crown's representative in Grenada, assented to the two pieces of legislation to amend the oath after they were approved in both the lower and upper Houses of Parliament.
Meanwhile, Grenada's tourism and culture minister, Adrian Thomas, said the move was a response to decades of calls from Grenadians to change the oath, as he said "we will be doing much more in years to come" as part of a broader effort to decolonise society and assert the country's independence.
The change to the oath comes as the Grenada Reparations Commission vowed to step up the pursuit of an apology and reparations from the monarch and intensify calls for the removal of King Charles as the country's head of state, after new research revealed that George IV personally profited from slavery on the Caribbean island.
