Errol Barrow became the first prime minister of independent Barbados as the Union Jack came down and the new nation's blue-gold-blue flag with its broken trident rose in Bridgetown. The trident's broken shaft symbolized the island's break from its colonial past while retaining ties to its Caribbean heritage.
At midnight on November 30, 1966, Barbados formally ended 341 years of unbroken British colonial rule—the longest continuous colonial relationship in the British Caribbean—becoming an independent nation while remaining within the Commonwealth.
Errol Walton Barrow, the charismatic leader of the Democratic Labour Party, became the country's first prime minister, having steered the island through the final negotiations with Britain. Princess Marina represented Queen Elizabeth II at the independence ceremonies in Bridgetown's Garrison Savannah, where thousands gathered to watch the new flag rise.
The island's flag, designed by a young Barbadian art teacher, Grantley Prescod, showed a trident broken into three pieces on a blue-and-gold background—representing the island's disassociation from its colonial past and adapted from the trident wielded by Britannia on the old colonial badge. Barbados would go on to become a republic in 2021, finally removing the British monarch as head of state, exactly 55 years after that midnight independence.
Key people: Errol Barrow