King Charles and the royal family have suffered the first major blow following the controversial foreign trips of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The monarch has received sad news from the Caribbean state after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex toured Nigeria and Colombia in recent months.
Trinidad and Tobago has reportedly decided to remove Queen Elizabeth from the flag.
The government wants to redesign its coat of arms to distance itself from its colonial history, including removing the image of three ships used by Christopher Columbus.
The Caribbean state has already announced that it will remove the depiction of three ships. Many islanders believe that the explorer’s expeditions to the area paved the way for centuries of European colonial rule and slavery in the region.
The plan is to replace the ships Pinta, Niña and Santa María with the steelpan, the famous percussion instrument that originates from the Caribbean state.
The government has asked residents of the twin islands whether they support the removal of statues, signs and monuments with colonial references.
At a meeting late Wednesday, people of African, European and indigenous descent took to the microphone individually to voice their opinions, with some saying the government needs to go beyond Columbus.
“What the hell is the Queen still doing up on the coat of arms? Please let’s lay her to rest,” said Eric Lewis, a member of the First Peoples.
The late Queen is depicted on the nation’s coat of arms above the shield. A gold helmet to the front represents Queen Elizabeth II, the colony’s ruler at the time of its design.
Trinidad and Tobago was first colonized by the Spanish, who ruled the island for almost 300 years before ceding it to the British, who ruled it for over 160 years until the islands gained independence in 1962.
