Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne. Photo: Reuters

For the first time, elected officials pledged allegiance directly to the country, ending a more than 40-year tradition of swearing loyalty to the British sovereign.

The change follows a constitutional amendment approved by Parliament in December 2025, which formally removed the requirement to pledge loyalty to King Charles III, his heirs and successors.

The new oath now mandates allegiance solely to the state of Antigua and Barbuda, its constitution, and its laws.

Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation at the edge of the Caribbean Sea. Antigua was colonised by English settlers in the early 1600s and Barbuda a few decades later.

The country became an associated state of the United Kingdom with full internal autonomy in 1967 and achieved independence in 1981, but opted to remain within the Commonwealth, with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

Mr Browne, the leader of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP), addressed the cabinet following the swearing-in.

“Whereas your success at the polls has earned you the confidence and trust of the people; that confidence and trust collectively is not a gift to be enjoyed, or trust to be betrayed. It is a burden to be carried, a duty to be performed, a trust to be honoured every single day,” Mr Browne said to those gathered.

The ABLP secured 15 of the country’s 17 parliamentary seats, while Jamale Pringle of the main opposition United Progressive Party was left as its lone standard-bearer after his party’s seat count collapsed from five to one.

He will be joined on the opposition bench by returning MP Trevor Walker, who has won on the Barbuda People’s Movement ticket in every election – except 2014 – since 2004.

Triggered two years ahead of the constitutional deadline, the snap election followed a campaign dominated by the rising cost of living and infrastructure development.