King Charles III will speak with “unflinching honesty” and “sincere sorrow” about the transatlantic slave trade when he addresses Commonwealth leaders in Antigua on Tuesday, Buckingham Palace said, as the final leg of his Caribbean tour coincides with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The speech comes after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “open” to the UK formally apologising for its role in slavery, a shift in the government’s stance. Writing in the Guardian on Friday night, Burnham called the slave trade a “brutal and barbaric violation” and said Britain “must face up to the past”, but he stopped short of considering reparation payments.
Britain has never formally apologised for slavery or offered reparations, demands long pressed by Caribbean nations. The Palace was told in advance of Burnham’s comments and the King has not changed his speech, the BBC reported.
A Palace spokesperson said the King “will not shy away from confronting the most shameful aspects of the past”, while stressing that decisions on an apology are a matter for the government, not the monarch.
The nine-day tour began in the Bahamas, where the King spoke of the “suffering of the past”, and included a visit in Guyana to the site of executions that followed the 1823 Demerara slave rebellion. The King and Queen Camilla are joining Antigua’s Independence Day celebrations on Sunday.
Sources: BBC News
—
