BARBADOS plans to remove Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and replace her with a ceremonial president from the Caribbean island.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says he plans on making the switch to a republic by November 2016 when the former British colony celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence.

Stuart says “it’s a little awkward” to keep pledging allegiance to the queen as titular monarch of an otherwise independent country. He says that despite the change, Barbados would remain in the Commonwealth grouping of former British territories.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said Monday that “it is a matter for the government and people of Barbados.”

Barbados will need a two-thirds majority in Parliament to authorise the constitutional change. How the president would be chosen is still to be decided.