King Charles’ sorrow over slavery faces test as reparations movement gains ground
Britain's King Charles meets with Guyana's President Mohamed Irfaan Ali upon arrival in Guyana for a state visit during a tour of Caribbean nations
King Charles has since 2022 expressed sorrow for the suffering caused by slavery without crossing a line that Britain has long resisted: an apology.
That balancing act will likely be tested at next week's Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda, where Caribbean leaders backing a reparations campaign through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are expected to press their case.
Buckingham Palace has indicated Charles would not apologise on behalf of Britain, which has repeatedly ruled out financial reparations over its role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Speaking in the Bahamas on Tuesday ahead of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that begins on Sunday, Charles said it was "only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering and injustices of the past," and said leaders from affected countries would discuss the issue at the summit.
But Niambi Hall Campbell-Dean, chair of the Bahamas' National Reparations Committee, said that did not go far enough. "We do not need more carefully crafted words about healing," she said in a statement. "We need action equal with the scale of the harm inflicted."
On Friday, about 15 people protested ahead of the king's arrival in Georgetown, Guyana. They gathered outside the Umana Yana, a conical palm-thatched hut originally built for the 1972 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference, where Charles later delivered a speech.
"It's an opportunity to try to impress upon him this historic responsibility for what took place here," said Terence Campbell, a member of parliament for the opposition APNU, who stood among the protesters holding a banner that read: "No apology will return what was stolen. Reparations now!"
ROYAL LINKS TO SLAVERY UNDER SCRUTINY
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted and sold into slavery by European traders, with Britain transporting an estimated 3.2 million people across the Atlantic, making it one of the biggest slave-trading nations, according to the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database.
Alan Lester, a University of Sussex historian whose research spans the legacies of slavery and empire, said opponents of the reparations movement had "successfully weaponised" the idea that reparations simply meant writing a cheque, an idea that few Western governments will countenance.
Instead, Caribbean leaders often frame their demands in terms of debt relief, development finance, education, healthcare and climate resilience, measures they say would address inequalities rooted in slavery and colonialism.
"I think King Charles III is in a difficult position because you can express sorrow about something, but an apology goes much further," royal commentator Afua Hagan said.
Buckingham Palace said in 2023 that Charles had given his support to research that was examining the monarchy's links to slavery after the Guardian newspaper reported on a document showing a historical connection.
In a more recent finding, independent researcher Desiree Baptiste told Reuters her forthcoming book, "George IV, Empire, and Objects of Prestige," would cite House of Lords papers and other British government records showing that profits derived from enslaved labour helped fund furniture and decorative work commissioned by George IV at royal residences.
In response, the Royal Collection Trust, a charity that maintains and displays artworks and historic objects held in trust by the king, said ongoing research helps it keep its records "continually under review in order to improve the information presented on an object or subject".
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