Prince Henry of Wales, popularly known as Prince Harry, arrived in Jamaica yesterday for a four-day visit, part of the international celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II, his grandmother’s Diamond Jubilee.
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned queen on June 2, 1953. She is the queen regnant of Jamaica and several other Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and Malta.
This year is also significant for Jamaica as she celebrates 50 years of independence from Britain.
When I heard about Prince Harry’s, I couldn’t help thinking about the statements made by our new Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller. At her inauguration in January, the prime minister is quoted as saying that her administration would be moving to replace the Queen as Jamaica’s head of state in order to “take full charge of our destiny.” The prime minister’s follow-up comment sounded hollow and downright condescending.
““It is not about getting rid of the Queen. Who can get rid of the Queen? I admire the Queen. I am fond of her, she is a wonderful lady, a beautiful lady. I had the pleasure on one of her visits to Jamaica to be sitting there. She was such a warm beautiful person. But, in terms of our history, we have some things to do.”
Yeah, like fixing our roads, attracting investors, create jobs, control crime, corruption, mismanagement, put our schools back on track, etc., etc., etc. The list of things we have to do is as long as my arm. Removing the Queen as head of state doesn’t merit a footnote. That does not affect our quality of life.
As some of you who’ve been reading my blog know, I’m not a fan of the monarchy. But really, Sista P?
Our politicians just don’t get it and they don’t seem to want to. As far as I’m concerned, they all need to be put on a leaky boat without food and water. They are a pox on the country.
To be fair, the visit was more than likely planned well in advance by the previous administration and the current one wouldn’t have had time to change it. Nevertheless, I’m still scratching my head over the PM’s comments.
The $3 million visit will take Prince Harry to Falmouth (Trelawny) and Montego Bay as well as the customary visits to hospitals – the Bustamante Hospital for Children and the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. Also included in his itinerary is a visit to the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies where it was reported this morning that he beat the track star in a 20m dash.
Prince Harry, who also visited Belize and the Bahamas, leaves Jamaica on March 8th, his last stop on his tour of Caribbean Commonwealth countries. This was also his first visit to the Caribbean.
