File photo:-Britain’s King Charles III waves as he arrives for a visit to University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in London
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted and sold into slavery by European merchants. Britain was responsible for transporting an estimated 3.2 million enslaved people, making it the second-largest European participant after Portugal, according to the report. The 56-member organisation is made up largely of former British colonies and represents about 2.7 billion people.
Last month, Jamaica formally asked Charles to seek legal advice on whether Britain should pay reparations and said it was encouraged by Buckingham Palace’s engagement with the issue. Charles, as head of the Commonwealth, occupies a particularly sensitive position in the debate.
Charles and Queen Camilla will visit the Bahamas and Guyana before travelling to Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will be held from November 1 to 4. “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.
“There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons,” a palace spokesperson said. “Opportunities will be found during the visit to reflect and renew his personal, wholehearted, and continuing commitment to that process,” the spokesperson said. Buckingham Palace has stated that King Charles will not ‘formally apologise’ for Caribbean slave trade but will not shy away from Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade during his upcoming tour. The Palace also stressed that questions of reparations and official apologies were matters for the British government rather than the monarch. The British government has ruled out paying reparations for slavery. The royal tour comes against growing calls from Caribbean and African nations for former colonial powers to compensate countries affected by slavery and its legacy.
Charles has previously expressed sorrow over the transatlantic slave trade and supported research into the British monarchy’s historical links to slavery. A palace spokesperson said the King had spent years acknowledging the wrongs of the past and working to address inequalities that continue today.
The upcoming tour is therefore likely to put Charles’ approach to Britain’s slavery legacy back in focus, even as Buckingham Palace makes clear that the King will not offer a formal apology or commit Britain to reparations.
Buckingham Palace said the King’s programme would acknowledge Britain’s colonial past, while keeping the focus on the present and future of the countries he visits. The Commonwealth’s secretary-general, Shirley Botchwey, said in February that she expected member states to make progress towards beginning negotiations on reparations. The trip comes as Caribbean and African countries push Britain and other former colonial powers to address the legacy of slavery and consider reparations. The issue is expected to feature prominently at the Commonwealth summit. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.