King Charles’s upcoming Caribbean tour will address the legacy of slavery and colonialism as Commonwealth nations continue to debate apologies and reparations, Buckingham Palace has said.
Charles is expected to face renewed calls to apologise for the UK’s role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people before attending a major Commonwealth leaders’ gathering in Antigua and Barbuda with the Queen from November 1 to 4.
Reparations—financial compensation or other forms of redress from slave-trading nations—are also likely to be raised during his visits to The Bahamas and Guyana.
The King follows the guidance of his ministers, and it is understood the Government has not advised him to offer an apology or reparations. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband recently reiterated the Government’s position, 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 discussions about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved people were taking place in various forums. The spokesperson said Charles had previously described slavery as an “atrocity” that “forever stains our history”.
“The visit programme will therefore not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past’,” the spokesperson said, while adding that the programme would principally focus on the present and future of each country, in consultation with its governments.
The spokesperson also highlighted Charles’s “personal, wholehearted and continuing commitment” to acknowledging historical wrongs and finding ways to “right inequalities that endure”. However, the Palace said questions about reparations and apologies were matters for the Government.
Charles described slavery as an “appalling atrocity” that “forever stains our history” at a ceremony marking Barbados’s transition to a republic in 2021. The following year, he said he was continuing to “deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact” at the opening of a Commonwealth summit in Rwanda.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has led Caribbean leaders who launched a slavery reparations manifesto at a conference in Ghana in June. Last month, a Jamaican delegation 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 UK Government acknowledges that the trade in enslaved people was abhorrent and that its effects are still felt, but says it will not pay financial reparations for historical acts that did not breach international law at the time. It has said it remains committed to dialogue with Commonwealth nations.
Charles will visit The Bahamas from October 27 to 29 and make a state visit to Guyana from October 29 to 30 before attending the Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda.
