Barbados says goodbye to queen, transforms into republic

San Juan (Puerto Rico): Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history.

Several leaders and dignitaries, including Prince Charles, attended the ceremony that began late Monday in a popular square where the statue of a well-known British lord was removed last year amid a worldwide push to erase symbols of oppression. Fireworks peppered the sky at midnight as Barbados officially became a republic, with screens set up across the island so people could watch the event that featured an orchestra with more than 100 steel pan players and numerous artists.

It was also broadcast online, prompting a flurry of excited messages from Bajans living in the US, Canada and beyond.

Happy Independence Day and freedom to all, wrote one viewer. The drive to become a republic began more than two decades ago and culminated with the island's Parliament electing its first ever president last month in a two-thirds majority vote.

Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason was scheduled to be sworn in before dawn on Tuesday as the island marked its 55th independence from Britain. Mason, 72, is an attorney and judge who also has served as ambassador to Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. She will help Prime Minister Mia Mottley lead the wealthy Caribbean island of more than 300,000 people that is dependent on tourism, manufacturing and finance.