In the heat of a Barbados night, the handover ceremony has combined pomp and ceremony with one big party. It has been a show of national pride with a sprinkling of this island's most famous names as VIP guests including the cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers and the singer Rihanna. In between them both sat the Prince of Wales. It must have been a moment of mixed emotions for him - he took the final salute and watched the Royal Standard lowered for the last time as his mother was removed as head of state. He used his speech to emphasise the pain of slavery and the enduring friendship of the two nations. The mood music from the royal household has been positive and pragmatic. They can't stop a constitutional shift but they can try to ensure positive relationships remain. 2px presentational grey line The country's prime minister has described the move to a republic as a "seminal moment" which will see Barbados fully leave its colonial past behind. It was one of England's first slave colonies. English settlers first occupied the island in 1627 and, under British control, it became a sugar plantation economy using enslaved people brought in from Africa. Slavery was abolished in Barbados in 1834 and the country became fully independent in 1966. In his speech on Tuesday, Prince Charles spoke of the "appalling atrocity of slavery" which he said "forever stains our history". Before Barbados, the last nation to remove the Queen as head of state was Mauritius in 1992. With a population of about 285,000 people, Barbados is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands. Once heavily dependent on sugar exports, its economy has diversified but has been hit hard by Covid-19 hurting tourism and rising prices caused by supply chain disruptions.