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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, dignitaries and artists, including Prince Charles and Rihanna, attended the ceremony that began late Monday in a popular square where the statue of Britain's Lord Nelson was removed last year amid a worldwide push to erase symbols of oppression.

Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it shed another vestige of its colonial past.

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.

At midnight on Monday, the island nation of Barbados officially became an independent republic after decades of pledging allegiance to the British throne. Former Governor General Sandra Mason was sworn in as the country’s president before dawn.

Barbados has stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history.