Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s subtle dig at royals during surprise trip to Jamaica

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle posed on a red carpet in Jamaica last night with the island’s prime minister who wants to turn his country into a republic. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love at the Carib 5 theatre in Cross Roads, St. Andrew, ahead of the film’s release on February 14.

The couple smiled for the cameras alongside Jamaican PM Andrew Holness and his wife, Juliet Holness, during the surprise outing. Mr Holness has made no secret of his wish to see an elected president rule in Jamaica rather than a British monarch.

During the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Platinum Jubilee tour of the Caribbean in 2022, Mr Holness told the couple his country would be moving on to fulfil its destiny to gain independence and prosperity. That royal tour was marred by controversy amid protests and calls for slavery reparations.

A referendum on whether Jamaicans want to sever ties with the monarchy and remove King Charles as head of state was tipped to happen this year, though details have yet to be confirmed.

Polling carried out last year by pollster Lord Ashcroft found 49 percent of Jamaicans surveyed said they would vote to become a republic, with 40 percent saying they would vote to retain the monarchy.

Mr Holness told the Daily Express in July last year that the appropriate time to have become a republic would have been on the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

He said: “I think there was always a strong love and respect for the Queen in Jamaica. The appropriate time to do it would have been on a transition.”

The island’s PM insisted there was public support, adding: “The truth is the recent polls have shown there is a tendency towards Jamaica becoming a republic. So over time the position has evolved.”

But campaigners from Advocates Network Jamaica – which wants constitutional reform, better governance and greater transparency in the country – has accused the island’s government of failing to raise awareness of the options.

A senior Jamaican government minister told Sky News in May 2023 the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla accelerated the country’s plans to become a republic.

Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica’s minister for legal and constitutional affairs, said at the time an urgent referendum could be held “as early as 2024”.

She said: “Jamaica is looking to write a new constitution… which will sever ties with the monarch as our head of state.”

Jamaica is not alone in looking to sever ties with the British monarchy, with Belize, the Bahamas, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St.Kitts and Nevis all signalling they want to become republics in the near future too.