Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the crowd: “On behalf of a grateful nation, but an even more proud people, we nominate you for the national hero of Barbados, Ambassador Robyn Rihanna Fenty.” .
“May you shine like a diamond and honor your nation by your actions, by your deeds, and by making a credit wherever you go,” Motley said.
The charge gives the celebrity “specific responsibility to promote education, tourism and investment for the island,” according to a statement from the Barbados Government Information Office released at the time.
She became one of the Caribbean island nation’s cultural ambassadors in 2008, doing promotional work for its Ministry of Tourism.
In a move that won widespread support in the country, Barbados formally severed ties with the British monarchy by becoming a republic, nearly 400 years after the first English ship reached the eastern islands of the Caribbean.