Saint Kitts and Nevis has become the latest Caribbean nation to indicate it wants to part ways with the British monarchy and become a republic – just as Prince Edward and his wife Sophie end a tour of the region in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Shawn Richards, the dual-island nation’s deputy prime minister, said the country should review its ties to the Queen as he launched a joint political bid to ditch the Queen. It follows a similar decision last year by Barbados.,

“The advancement of the decades has taught us that the time has come for St Kitts and Nevis to review its monarchical system of government and to begin the dialogue to advance to a new status, just as Trinidad, Guyana, Dominica and now Barbados have done,” Mr Richards told reporters.

“All political parties, along with civil society and the youth, will have an opportunity to guide the way forward,” he added.

Mr Richards made the declaration as he and five of his cabinet colleagues lodged a motion of no confidence against the nation’s prime minister, Timothy Harris.