Britain had a number one function in ending the slave commerce, says Charles: King hails Royal Navy’s heroics after PM opened door to apology for slavery
The King emphasised Britain’s role in ending the slave trade amid a reparations row in the Caribbean yesterday.
In a punchier-than-expected speech to Commonwealth leaders, Charles steered clear of offering an apology, insisting ‘we cannot change the past.’
Pointedly, he reminded them that the Royal Navy led the way in ending the transatlantic slave trade.
Charles, speaking as head of the Commonwealth, said the ‘complex’ history around the issue must include ‘the good’ done by those involved, ‘as well as the wrongs’.
The King has been caught in the crossfire between Prime Minister Andy Burnham – who caused a storm by saying he was open to discussions over an apology but not reparations – and Caribbean campaigners who say the time has come for the UK to pay up.
Buckingham Palace had promised Charles’s speech would be ‘unflinching’ in its ‘honesty, sincere sorrow and respect’.
He acknowledged the episode ‘still casts a shadow’, saying the ‘shameful chapter of history is one that fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow’.
His reference to the Royal Navy will be seen as a significant defence of Britain’s legacy – for both good and ill – in the region.
Charles and Camilla speak with members of a rowing team during a visit to a beach in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 3
Charles speaks with attendees during the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the University of West Indies in St John’s
Camilla talks to a student participating in a writing workshop focused on storytelling and Commonwealth identity, during a visit to Princess Margaret School
It is an issue that was only touched upon by Mr Burnham in his initial talk of a formal apology at the weekend that began the most recent row. And it has been ignored by many others who have since jumped on the bandwagon.
Following the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, Britain’s naval forces played a central operational role in suppressing the trade worldwide.
Delivering the opening speech at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Charles said: ‘None of us, of course, would be here today were it not for our history, which has shaped us in myriad ways.
‘History is not ours to choose or to change. It is bequeathed to us in complex synthesis by forebears we can never know.
‘Our inheritance includes both their achievements and their failures – the good they did as well as the wrongs.’
He continued: ‘History can be hard to compass, viewed as it is through the prism of time, which can be both clarifying and distorting, and yet its consequences resonate with contemporary force.
‘Our history inspires us, can appal us, yet it can always teach us. We cannot change the actions of those who came before us. We can, however, learn from the past.’
His remarks come amid an increasingly toxic row over whether Britain should offer a formal apology and pay reparations for its part in the transportation of slaves from Africa to the plantations of the Caribbean.
King Charles attends the Commonwealth Youth Forum at The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus
Queen Camilla poses for pictures as they meet youth-led environmental organisations and community groups at Fort James Beach that are working to protect Antigua and Barbuda’s coastline through conservation, education and beach-cleaning initiatives
Charles speaks with Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney at a reception for new Commonwealth Heads of Government during their visit
Buckingham Palace has made clear that it will follow government advice on the matter which, until only days ago, had been a clear ‘no apology, no compensation’.
But Mr Burnham’s intervention at the weekend, in which he said the Government was willing to start a constructive dialogue on the issue of an apology, has lit a touchpaper under the issue.
While he has insisted reparations remain off the table, many Caribbean nations have sensed blood in the water and are insisting the time has come for a significant payout.
In a two-minute video posted to X on Monday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said an apology for slavery would help the UK ‘build stronger relationships’ with Commonwealth countries.
The King added yesterday: ‘The transatlantic trade in enslaved persons still casts a shadow over these islands and other members of our Commonwealth.
‘As I have said before, that shameful chapter of history is one that fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow.’
But he continued with his reference to Britain’s leading role in ending the global slave trade, which went down less well with his audience, who offered muted applause at the end of his speech.
Speaking to a packed audience of 1,200 delegates in Antigua and Barbuda, the 77-year-old King was on his feet for 15 minutes and sounded slightly tired after a gruelling week-long Caribbean tour.
Their Majesties leave Fort James Beach after a visit as part of a week-long autumn tour of Caribbean nations, including attendance by Their Majesties at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
Camilla picks litter with grabbers while a young boy holds a bin bag open for her as she visits a beach in St. John’s
The King’s Autumn Tour includes visits to The Bahamas and Guyana before continuing to Antigua and Barbuda
Security around the conference centre was tight but some protesters gathered along the roads surrounding the site.
Asked last night whether he could guarantee that not a single extra penny of taxpayers’ money would go to Commonwealth countries demanding reparations as a result of the change in the Government’s position, Mr Burnham said: ‘I’ve been very clear that we do not support reparations…
‘But it’s not the case that we don’t support countries in the Commonwealth around development and helping them with debt issues that they’ve got, green finance.’
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne – who has openly demanded reparations and spoken of his hope that his country would ditch Charles as King – said yesterday: ‘In Samoa [where the previous CHOGM was held] we agreed that the time had come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation on reparatory justice. We must now carry that commitment forward.’
