MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ardern believes NZ will become a republic in her lifetime

New Zealand is expected to evolve into a republic but Canada is staying within the Commonwealth, according to their respective Prime Ministers

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hinted Sunday in London while attending Queen Elizabeth's funeral that her country might become a republic.

While King Charles III remains head of state for now, Ardern said the process would be slow but will eventually be completed in her own lifetime. She is 42.

The Prime Minister insisted she would not instigate these changes, but “even the Queen herself observed and admitted the evolution of our relationship over time.”

“My observation is that there will continue to be an evolution in our relationship. I don't think it will happen quickly, nor soon, but it will happen in my lifetime,” she added.

Ardern stressed that the New Zealand political system was based on “complex arrangements,” including treaties between indigenous Maori and the British Crown. “For that reason, it is not a process that I have any intention of instigating. But if and when it does happen, it will take time and it will need to be done very carefully,” she added.

Regarding ties among Commonwealth countries after Barbados gained independence from the British Crown last year, Ardern admitted she was “an observer of that process, it will be a matter for each leader in each country to determine their own trajectory.”

“This is an evolution. What is important is that ties will be maintained between us as a Commonwealth of Nations because there are still things to gain from that relationship,” she added.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found that his country's system of government, which also retained King Charles III as head of state, was “stable.”

“I think there is extraordinary stability in our system of Democracy. We have an extraordinary governor general who embodies the best of Canadians and we have a Crown that oversees, sometimes from a comfortable distance, what is happening,” he said Monday while stressing that Ottawa's relationship with London would “continue to serve Canadians extremely well” in the future.