ABSTRACT
In the Caribbean, the nomenclature of Heads of State depends on the constitutional system over which they preside. Moreover, the incidents involving Dame Hilda Bynoe and Sir Leo DeGale, respectively Governor and Governor General of Grenada, seem to expose the manner in which the constitutional provisions under which Governors General are appointed are applied in practice. In the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Heads of State in 2001 comprise: three Presidents, nine Governors General and six Governors. The Presidents of Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica can be regarded as symbols of national unity to whom the people of those territories owe due allegiance under their respective Constitutions. This allegiance is therefore constitutionally owed to the Queen only in those Commonwealth Caribbean countries which have retained a monarchical type of Constitution. In the larger territories of British Guiana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Queen's representative was called 'Governor'.
