Queen of Mauritius
was Queen of Mauritius from 1968 to 1992. Mauritius was a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth as head of state. The Queen was also the monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. Her constitutional roles in Mauritius were delegated to a Governor-General.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom's Mauritius Independence Act 1968 transformed the British Crown Colony of Mauritius into an independent sovereign state. Unusually, no member of the British royal family attended the independence ceremony on the island because of security concerns. Princess Alexandra was due to attend but after communal violence the British Minister of State for the Commonwealth, Lord Shepherd, advised that her visit be cancelled.
coin, 1971
The Queen and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Mauritius for three days in 1972, as part of a tour of Asia and Africa. They arrived in Port Louis on the royal yacht Britannia after visiting the Seychelles. They were met by a crowd of nearly a quarter of a million people, and rode through the city in an open-topped car. During the visit, the Queen opened the sixth session of the third Mauritius Parliament. The royal couple left Mauritius for Nairobi by air. It was the first ever visit to the island by a reigning monarch.
Mauritius became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992 with the President of Mauritius replacing the Queen as head of state. To date, Mauritius is the most recent of the Queen's realms to become a republic.
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| Elizabeth II 12 March 1968 – 15 April 1968: By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith 15 April 1968 – 12 March 1992: Queen of Mauritius and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth |