Barbuda

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, announced that he will call a referendum in the country within three years for the population to decide whether it wants to remain united to the British monarchy or proclaim a republic. "It does not represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, nor any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy," he said. "It is a final step in completing the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation," he asserted. The Caribbean country is one of the 14 nations that maintains the British monarchy as its head of state.