Excerpt and Photo from dominicanewsonline.com

The Dutch Caribbean island of St Eustatius, commonly known as Statia, has appointed its first-ever female island governor.

Alida Francis, who up until her swearing-in was the government commissioner, took the oath of office today at a ceremony here, attended by family, friends, the former island governor, Gerald Berkel, the acting Kingdom representative, Jan Helmond, legislators, and other dignitaries.

The oath was administered by Helmond, and the Royal decree was read by Bastiaan de Jong, the senior adviser to the kingdom representative. The state secretary of kingdom relations and digitisation, Alexandra van Huffelen, also sent a recorded message.

In her inaugural address, the newly sworn-in island governor acknowledged the historic nature of the occasion, but stressed this would not define her governorship.

“I take this oath before all of you to serve as island governor of the entire island. It is more about Statia and less about me,” she stressed, while making an impassioned plea for the island to work together for the common good.