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MPs, experts and campaigners have called on King Charles to make a formal apology for transatlantic slavery, after research highlighted how the British crown and Royal Navy extended and protected the trade in enslaved African people for hundreds of years.
The king has previously expressed “personal sorrow” at the suffering caused by slavery and has spoken of committing to “finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure”. However, the British crown has never issued a formal apology.
The Crown’s Silence, a book published this week, details how monarchs from Queen Elizabeth I to George IV used the trade in enslaved people to boost crown revenues and defend the British empire.
It is believed that by 1807 the British crown was the largest buyer of enslaved people.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour Clapham and Brixton Hill MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan reparations, said “personal sorrow” did “not befit one of the single greatest crimes against humanity”.
“This isn’t about individuals but the monarchy as an institution,” she added. “What is needed is not simply an apology on behalf of the crown, but acknowledgment of this history and action to address its lasting legacy of global racism and inequality.
“An apology could be a basis for the honest conversation and transformation we need to have as a country around this issue in a swiftly changing world.”
The Runnymede Trust, which in September published Reparations, a report offering a blueprint for reparative justice, said King Charles offering an apology would be “a welcome, symbolic first step”, but must be supported by action.
They added: “Reparations is not about exacting collective punishment or confessions of guilt – a Crown apology should only be offered if there is an accompanying governmental promise to engage with the systemic work that needs to be done to see how the legacies of slavery have coded our economic and financial infrastructures, and to genuinely commit to their reform and transformation.”
Liliane Umubyeyi, the director of African Futures Lab, also argued that recognition “cannot be sufficient on its own”, saying there was a “legal as well as moral obligation for reparations, as slavery has been formally recognised as a crime against humanity under international law”.
Carla Denyer, the Green party MP for Bristol Central, said a formal apology was “long overdue”, adding: “The descendants of enslaved people deserve nothing less.”
Independent experts who work with the UN also say an apology is overdue.
The researcher and human rights activist Michael McEachrane, of the UN permanent forum on people of African descent, said: “The growing global call for reparatory justice is not primarily about the past.
“[It] is critical for a sustainable future as there is no force in human history that has contributed more to social, economic and ecological disparities than colonialism. This isn’t charity or ‘handout’ – it’s about partnership: Commonwealth nations and the UK building equitable futures together, acknowledging rather than erasing their shared history.”
The human rights lawyer Dominique Day, of the UN working group of experts on people of African descent, said the legacy of slavery and colonialism was felt “in police killings, joint enterprise prosecutions, in the Windrush and Grenfell scandals, and more”.
“An acknowledgment creates space for repair, and the possibility of moving toward an ethic of respect, compassion, and prosperity without exploitation,” she added.
Later this year, the king is expected to face renewed calls for action to address the legacy of slavery from Caribbean and African nations at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Antigua and Barbuda.
The historian Brooke Newman said she wrote The Crown’s Silence to lay out the “historical evidence” and “open up the conversation” on an issue that had fallen victim to “culture wars”. She said: “(Chogm) is going to be a moment for pageantry and protests; 2026 could be a key time for Charles to take action.”
Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment.
