The King is to begin a tour of the Caribbean as calls mount for him to apologise for Britain’s role in slavery.
Charles will arrive in Antigua for a nine-day visit to the region after the Commonwealth’s secretary general Shirley Botchwey said last week it “wouldn’t hurt” when asked during an interview if the King should apologise.
He will preside over the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua, where he will be joined by the Queen, and he will also make a solo state visit to Guyana.
Its President Mohamed Irfaan Ali said recently Charles had recognised slavery as the darkest days in human history – but moving to the apology was “the next step”.
The issue of reparations – financial compensation or other forms of redress from slave trading nations – is likely to be another topic he is asked to address.
The King follows the guidance of his ministers and it is understood the Government has not advised him to offer an apology or reparations, in keeping with established policy.
In March, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity”, and the UK and EU member states were among 52 countries who abstained during the vote.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, expected to attend CHOGM with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, recently reiterated the Government’s position during an interview with Politico, a digital newspaper, saying “I don’t think reparations are the answer, and I’ve had those discussions already with some of our Commonwealth colleagues.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said when details of the visit were announced earlier this month: “There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons.
“While these are primarily matters for Governments to address, His Majesty’s previous statements on them have been unequivocal, describing them as an ‘atrocity’ which ‘forever stains our history’.
“The visit programme will therefore not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past’, as His Majesty has described them, but, in keeping with the wishes of our host nations, it will principally be oriented to the vibrant present and promising future of each country, with visit programmes developed in close consultation with their governments to reflect their individual priorities.
“That said, it is important to note here the work His Majesty himself has done over many years both to acknowledge the wrongs of the past and to find creative ways to ‘right inequalities that endure’.
“As you would therefore expect, opportunities will be found during the visit to reflect and renew his personal, wholehearted, and continuing commitment to that process.”
Britain’s royal family has a long association with the transportation and selling of enslaved people for profit.
Elizabeth I backed the lucrative dealings of John Hawkins, one of Britain’s first slave traders, and Charles II encouraged the expansion of the enterprise granting a charter to a group of men, the Royal Adventurers, who later became the Royal African Company, and invested private funds in the firm, as did the Duke of York.
As the slavery abolitionists campaigned against the trade they were opposed by the Duke of Clarence, George III’s son, later to become William IV.
Charles, head of the Commonwealth, acknowledged the “appalling atrocity of slavery”, describing it as something “which forever stains our history”, when he attended the ceremony marking Barbados’ historic transition to a republic in 2021.
A year later he described how he was on a personal journey of discovery and was continuing to “deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact”, in a speech at the opening of a Commonwealth summit hosted by Rwanda.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, whose administration removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, led a group of Caribbean leaders who launched a new slavery reparations manifesto during a reparations conference in Ghana in June.
The UK Government’s position on reparations is well established, it acknowledges the trade in enslaved people was abhorrent and its impact is still felt today, but it will not pay financial reparations for historical acts that did not break international laws at the time and is committed to continued dialogue with Commonwealth nations.
This summer a delegation from Jamaica travelled to the UK to file a petition asking the King to refer three questions about transatlantic chattel slavery to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean island’s highest court of appeal.
Charles will begin his Caribbean tour by visiting The Bahamas from October 27-29, followed by the state visit to Guyana, October 29-30 and will attend CHOGM during his trip to Antigua and Barbuda with the Queen from Nov 1-4.
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