The West Indies

Abstract

There will not be many people who could readily answer the apparently simple yet deceptively intricate question: how many monarchies are there in the western hemisphere? An accurate response must be based on a differentiation between independent and non-independent countries followed by an awareness of which of the former have chosen the republican path in place of the monarchical. In November 1989 the monarchies, ten in number, are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Canada, the Federation of St. Christopher/Nevis, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas. Three republics are to be found in the Commonwealth Caribbean. They are the Commonwealth of Dominica, the only State to have become a republic on its accession to independence, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The latter two became independent as monarchies but subsequently opted for republican status.