Bar­ba­dos be­came the world’s newest re­pub­lic in the ear­ly hours of Tues­day morn­ing, end­ing close to 400 years of British colo­nial­ism.

Be­fore the ear­ly morn­ing for­mal­i­ties at Na­tion­al He­roes Square in Bridgetown, the night be­gan with a colour­ful cel­e­bra­tion of the oc­ca­sion by some of Bar­ba­dos’ most well-known mu­si­cians, dancers and po­ets.

But, as the clock ap­proached mid­night, the crowd be­came silent in an­tic­i­pa­tion.

When mid­night fi­nal­ly ar­rived, the an­nounc­er read, “We, the peo­ple of Bar­ba­dos, in the uni­ty of hearts, hands and minds, now pledge our selves, our com­mit­ment, loy­al­ty and pur­pose to this beloved Bar­ba­dos...In­firm re­solve and in one voice, from this day and for­ev­er, we de­clare Bar­ba­dos a Par­lia­men­tary Re­pub­lic.”

The an­nounce­ment was met with ap­plause, then short­ly af­ter, yet, an­oth­er Bar­ba­di­an woman made his­to­ry.

Three years af­ter Mia Mot­t­ley be­came the coun­try’s first fe­male Prime Min­is­ter, Dame San­dra Ma­son, for­mer ju­rist and Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al of Bar­ba­dos, be­came the coun­try’s first-ever pres­i­dent.

“In the year 2021, we now turn our ves­sel’s bow to­wards the new re­pub­lic. We do this, so that we may seize the full sub­stance of our sov­er­eign­ty,” Pres­i­dent Ma­son said af­ter her swear­ing-in.

“We must avoid the trap of mere­ly re­liv­ing, retelling and re­ly­ing on our past achieve­ment as a na­tion. In­stead, we must seek to re­fine our de­f­i­n­i­tion of self, state and our Bar­ba­dos brand in a more com­plex, frac­tured and tur­bu­lent world.”

Rep­re­sent­ing the British roy­al fam­i­ly at the oc­ca­sion, Prince Charles said the cre­ation of the re­pub­lic of­fered a new be­gin­ning.

It was a mile­stone on a long road not on­ly trav­elled, he said, but one built by Bar­ba­dos.

“From the dark­est days of our past and the ap­palling atroc­i­ties of slav­ery, which for­ev­er stains our his­to­ry, the peo­ple of this is­land forged their path with ex­tra­or­di­nary for­ti­tude. Eman­ci­pa­tion, self-gov­ern­ment and in­de­pen­dence were your way­points. Free­dom, jus­tice and self-de­ter­mi­na­tion have been your guides,” Prince Charles said.

“Your long jour­ney has brought you to this mo­ment. Not as your des­ti­na­tion, but as a van­tage point to sur­vey your new hori­zon.”

He as­sured that re­la­tions be­tween both coun­tries will re­main close go­ing for­ward.

And as Bar­ba­dos re­moved Queen Eliz­a­beth II as its head of state, Prime Min­is­ter Mia Mot­t­ley cel­e­brat­ed the ac­com­plish­ments of Bar­ba­dos’ queen of pop and R&B - Ri­han­na.

“On be­half of a grate­ful na­tion, but an even proud­er peo­ple, we, there­fore, present to you the de­signee of Na­tion­al Hero of Bar­ba­dos - Am­bas­sador Robyn Ri­han­na Fen­ty. May you con­tin­ue to shine like a di­a­mond and bring ho­n­our to our na­tion,” Mot­t­ley said.

Al­so in at­ten­dance at the cer­e­mo­ny were Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley and Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes.

Bar­ba­dos de­cid­ed to be­come a re­pub­lic in 2020.

It will re­main in the Com­mon­wealth.