King Charles Supports Study Into Royal Family Slavery Links
Buckingham Palace has said that it is co-operating with an independent study exploring the relationship between the British monarchy and the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Palace said King Charles takes the issue “profoundly seriously.”
“Given the complexities of the issues it is important to explore them as thoroughly as possible.”
A Palace statement was issued in response to the Guardian, which has published a previously unseen document showing the 1689 transfer of shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company from Edward Colston – the slave trader and the company’s deputy governor – to King William III.
The King has also said that each Commonwealth country should make its own decision over whether it is a constitutional monarchy or a republic.
He said he was aware the roots of the Commonwealth organisation “run deep into the most painful period of our history” and said acknowledging the wrongs of the past was a “conversation whose time has come.”
There are currently 14 Commonwealth Realms in addition to the UK where the King is their head of state.
Dr Halima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust – a race equality think tank – told the BBC “it is wonderful to see King Charles building on his mother’s legacy.”
She described it as “incredibly encouraging” to see an incremental engagement from the monarchcy on issues surrounding the injustice of slavery.
BBC/Shakirat Sadiq
