Caribbean nations demand reparations from Royal Family for slave trade

According to Jamaican Judge Patrick Robinson, the world tide on slavery reparations is rapidly moving.

Prince Charles, late Queen Elizabeth II, Prince George, and Prince William on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 5, 2022 (AP)

Caribbean countries are preparing official letters requesting that the British Royal Family apologize for slavery and make reparations.

National reparations commissions in the region will also approach Lloyd’s of London and the Church of England requesting financial compensation and reparative justice for their historical roles in the slave trade.

In August, a senior judge at the International Court of Justice stated that the United Kingdom would no longer be able to ignore rising requests for compensation for transatlantic slavery.

Judge Patrick Robinson, a Jamaican prosecutor, said the world tide on slavery reparations was rapidly moving and asked the United Kingdom to reconsider its present stance on the matter.

According to The Telegraph, the commissions want to send the letters to the institutions involved before the end of the year.

Arley Gill, an attorney and chair of Grenada’s reparations commission, expressed hope that the King would revisit the issue of reparations in order to issue an apology and ensure reparative justice is served.

The attorney remarked that the duty of reparations lies at “all levels, banks, churches, insurance companies like Lloyd’s, and universities and colleges that benefited.”

The Guardian discovered earlier this year that direct relatives of King Charles III and the Royal Family purchased and exploited enslaved people on tobacco plantations in Virginia.

Desirée Baptiste’s research uncovered a document directing a ship’s captain to bring the enslaved Africans to Edward Porteus, a tobacco plantation owner in Virginia, and two other men. Robert Porteus inherited his father’s inheritance before relocating his family to England in 1720.

Frances Smith, a direct descendent, later married the aristocracy Claude Bowes-Lyon. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the late Queen’s mother, was their grandchild.

The Guardian also discovered records that link slave dealer Edward Colston to the British Crown.

In reaction to The Guardian‘s revelations, Charles expressed his support for a study into the ties between the British monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade for the first time.

A spokesperson for the palace stated that the issue of slavery was taken “profoundly seriously” by the King and called it an “appalling atrocity”.

Support for the research was part of Charles’ process of improving his awareness of “slavery’s enduring impact,” which has “continued with vigor and determination” since his ascension, according to the spokesman. He has not, however, properly apologized for Britain’s extensive participation in the slave trade.

Britain enslaved nearly 3.2 million Africans globally

Between 1640 and the early nineteenth century, Britain’s massive maritime business carried an estimated 3.2 million enslaved Africans throughout the world.

Lloyd’s of London, which was the worldwide center for insuring that industry, has stated that it is “deeply sorry” for its involvement in the trade, as reported on its website.

The company wrote on its website that “it is part of our shared history that caused enormous suffering and continues to have a negative impact on Black and ethnically diverse communities today.”

Leading leaders in the Church of England also held slaves, and it has already confessed that Queen Anne’s Bounty, a precursor of its contemporary investment fund, put considerable sums into the slave-trading South Sea Company in the 18th century.

Gareth Mostyn, chief executive of the Church Commissioners, told BBC radio earlier this year that it was a “source of great shame for us,” apologizing for this.

According to Adrian Odle, a lawyer and commission head, “Every property that the royal family is in possession of has the scent of slavery” and “every property that the royal family is in possession of has the scent of slavery.”

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With official letters to be produced and submitted by December, he would seek to sidestep the UK government, which has so far been unreceptive to the concept of reparations.