Jamaica is preparing to remove Queen Elizabeth as head of state, reports say

• Jamaica has begun the process of removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state, sources told the Independent. 
• Prince William and Kate Middleton visited to the island this week. 
• They have been met with protests in the country with citizens demanding reparations for slavery. 

Jamaica has begun the process to have Queen Elizabeth removed as the country's head of state, government sources told The Independent and Harpers Bazaar. 

The country will continue to work towards becoming a republic following Prince William's and Kate Middleton's visit to the island this week, a government source told The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White.

According to the publication, a senior figure has been appointed within the Jamaican government, who did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment, to lead the nation's journey towards becoming a republic, as Barbados officially did in November. 

"The government has had to start the process; the road to becoming a republic is not an easy one but they have long been coming under significant pressure to do it," a political source told White. 

To celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, William and Kate's visit to the island was part of a week-long tour of the Caribbean countries that are part of the Commonwealth, as outlined in a press release.

The Independent further reported that the couple was met with 350 protesters outside the British High Commission when they arrived in Kingston, Jamaica on Tuesday, with Jamaicans demanding reparations and apologies from the royal family for years of slavery. 

Placards from demonstrators displayed anti-colonial messaging, with one sign reading "Kings, Queens and Princesses and Princes belong in fairytales not in Jamaica!" Sky News reported.

The Advocates Network coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors, and musicians wrote an open letter detailing 60 reasons why the monarchy should compensate Jamaica, to mark the country's 60th anniversary of independence, which was handed to the British High Commission on Tuesday night, The Independent reported.

The publication added that many Jamaicans are not entirely hopeful as Prime minister Andrew Holness was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council - a body of advisors to the sovereign - in July. 

—Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) March 21, 2022

According to Reuters, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had to cancel the first stop on their Caribbean tour — Belize — because of similar "anti-colonialism" demonstrations against the royals. The couple was due to visit Akte' il Ha cacao farm on Sunday in an indigenous Mayan village when local protests about colonialism and land disputes took place, Reuters reported.

Indian Creek residents told the news agency their resistance was due to the royal's helicopter landing on a soccer field that is the subject of a land dispute between Belize citizens and Flora and Fauna International (FFI), a conservation group that lists Prince William as a patron. 

William and Kate are due to arrive in the Bahamas on Thursday for their final stop on the tour, Bloomberg reported. It is expected that there could be further demonstrations, with the publication adding that one Bahamas committee is calling on the Duke and Duchess to acknowledge the British economy was "built on the backs" of Bahamians and pay reparations.

The Bahamas National Reparations Committee wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday: "Why are we footing the bill for the benefit of a regime whose rise to 'greatness' was fueled by the extinction, enslavement, colonization, and degradation of the people of this land? Why are we being made to pay again?" 

Representatives from the British government, Buckingham Palace, and Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.