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On Tuesday, British monarch Charles III, who is finishing a nine-day tour of the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, will give a speech to Commonwealth leaders on the transatlantic slave trade.
The Commonwealth is an association of 56 independent states, many of which are located in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean and were once part of the British Empire. The British monarch is still the head of state in 14 Commonwealth countries besides the UK.
The Caribbean tour once again embroiled the king in complex debates about Britain's colonial legacy in the region.
The issue, which has been raised several times in recent years, is especially poignant this time, especially in light of the recent publication of an article by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the Guardian newspaper, where he wrote that he was “open” to the possibility of an official apology from the UK for its role in the slave trade.
Charles III intends to speak with "unwavering honesty" and "sincere regret" about the lasting pain caused by the transatlantic slave trade during the final leg of his Caribbean tour in Antigua, Buckingham Palace said.
During the first leg of his visit to the Bahamas, the king gave a speech in which he spoke of the "suffering of the past." In Guyana, he visited the site of a slave rebellion where hundreds of enslaved people were killed.
In an address to the nation on the occasion of Antigua and Barbuda's Independence Day, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that the history of slavery was painful and "its consequences have not disappeared with the passage of time."
He noted that the country's desire to restore justice deserves "a serious approach, sensitivity and constant international interaction."
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Brown added that his government is discussing these issues as part of bilateral discussions with the UK and other Commonwealth countries at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), at which Karl will speak.
The leaders of these countries are seeking not only an official apology for Britain's participation in the slave trade, but also reparations for the damage suffered. The issue of apology comes up from time to time in statements by European and British officials of various calibers: in 2023, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands made an official apology for the country’s and the royal dynasty’s involvement in the slave trade, and a year earlier, the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte made an official apology.
A number of organizations have issued public apologies for their involvement in the slave trade. Among them are the Church of England and the 300-year-old insurance company Lloyd's, which once insured ships carrying slaves across the Atlantic.
However, Europe is not yet ready to consider the issue of reparations, even theoretically.
It's not the king's business
Court sources stressed that the decision to apologize was a matter for the government, not Buckingham Palace.
“His Majesty has a lot of experience in diplomatic balancing,” said one royal aid. “He is ready for difficult visits related to complex issues and relationships. He sees it as his role to defend the interests of Great Britain and the entire Commonwealth."
Asked about the king's reaction to the prime minister's comments, the king's spokesman said it would be "inappropriate" for the king to raise policy issues related to the government's position.
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Charles will not apologize during his Caribbean tour because he is speaking on behalf of the elected government and not himself, said Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law and monarchy at King's Holloway College, University of London.
“In that sense it is not the king’s business,” he said. “And it has long been government policy to acknowledge that slavery happened and that it is a stain on British history, but that reparations cannot be paid.”
But the palace's language will not silence critics of the monarchy, said Brooke Newman, author of Silence of the Crown: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in America.
“These are empty words,” Newman said, referring to Carl’s expected comments. - This does not contribute to dialogue. This does not provide any opportunity for any conversation with posterity and does not advance a solution to this problem at all. So people are disappointed because the government and the king are essentially telling them that this issue is off the agenda.”
Government position
In an article for the Guardian last Friday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the transatlantic slave trade as a "cruel and barbaric violation" and said Britain "must face the past."
In his article, Burnham went further than any previous British Prime Minister, writing: “We propose to establish a structured dialogue with those affected by the transatlantic slave trade. Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will be an important part of this process, and I am open to such calls.”
Year after year, British prime ministers consistently declared that the country would not pay reparations for slavery, and in his article Burnham defended this position, writing: “I do not believe that modern Britons can be held accountable for historical injustices.”
Previously, Burnham adhered to the policies of his predecessors and did not even consider the issue of paying reparations.
In this, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, agrees with him, describing “endless talk about apologies” as a “distraction” from solving current problems.
She told the BBC: “The transatlantic slave trade took place centuries ago. It's time for the Commonwealth to start looking to the future rather than endlessly looking back."
Paying out reparations could potentially cost the UK hundreds of billions of pounds, so the issue is particularly sensitive for the current government, which is already in a difficult financial position.
There is also no agreement on how much is owed to countries affected by the slave trade.
A group of African states said in 1999 that former colonizers owe them $777 trillion, although there are more conservative estimates.
A report published in 2023 by the University of the West Indies and supported by International Court of Justice Judge Patrick Robinson concluded that Britain must pay more than £18 billion in reparations for its role in the slave trade in 14 Caribbean countries.
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There have been precedents for paying reparations: for example, in 2023, the British aristocratic Trevelyan family, which formerly owned six sugar plantations, announced that it would make a public apology to the residents of the Caribbean island of Grenada and pay reparations, as well as donate 100 thousand pounds to create a public fund for the economic development of the island. But this is an exclusively private initiative.
"Full and formal apology"
While the reparations movement sees the summit as a potential turning point, the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission (CARICOM) also said the Caribbean region had failed to secure unanimous Commonwealth agreement for foreign ministers to advance discussion of the historical damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade through “structured, inclusive and good faith dialogue.”
The Caribbean Community Reparations Commission's manifesto and 10-point plan, which sets out what it calls "the moral, ethical and legal basis for reparations" for the enslavement of African people, prioritizes a "full and formal apology."
Alan Lester, a historian at the University of Sussex whose research focuses on the legacy of slavery and empire, said opponents of the reparations movement had "successfully exploited" the idea that reparations amounted to just writing a check - an idea that few Western governments are willing to support.
Instead, Caribbean leaders often frame their demands in terms of debt relief, development financing, education, health care and climate resilience. They believe that such measures will eliminate inequalities that have their roots in slavery and colonialism.
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The question of reparations
In March 2026, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the trade in enslaved Africans “the worst crime against humanity.” It calls for reparations as “a concrete step to correct historical injustice.”
The resolution also calls for the "immediate and unhindered restitution" of cultural property - including works of art, monuments, museum exhibits, documents and materials from national archives - to their countries of origin free of charge.
123 UN members voted for the resolution, three (Argentina, Israel and the United States) voted against, and 52 abstained. The UK and all 27 European Union member states were among those abstaining.
While the United States condemns past crimes related to the transatlantic slave trade and all other forms of slavery, it “does not recognize a legal right to compensation for historical injustices that were not illegal under international law when they occurred,” US Deputy Ambassador Dan Negrea said before the vote.
Verene Shepherd, vice-chair of the CARICOM reparations commission, which helped draft the UN resolution and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Cerd) recommendation, noted that Cerd's recommendation that countries have a legal obligation to consider paying reparations for the transatlantic slave trade is "based on international law and historical facts" about slavery and colonization and their ongoing impact.
“As far as former colonists and Africans are concerned, the crime remains relevant. It remains relevant until justice is achieved,” she said, adding that the UN’s involvement “certainly strengthens the international legitimacy of the movement.”
Transatlantic slave trade
According to the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, from the 15th to the 19th centuries, European traders kidnapped and sold into slavery at least 12.5 million Africans, with Britain transporting an estimated 3.2 million across the Atlantic, making it one of the largest countries involved in the slave trade.
British monarchs didn't just preside over an empire that transported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to work on the sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations of the New World, Brooke Newman argues in her book.
As early as 1563, more than 40 years before England established its first colony in North America, Queen Elizabeth I supported Captain John Hawkins' plan to raid Portuguese ports on the West African coast and transport captured Africans to the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. In exchange for providing Hawkins with a Royal Navy warship, the Queen received a share of the profits.
Almost 100 years later, King Charles II granted the Company of Royal Adventurers into Africa, later known simply as the Royal African Company, exclusive trading rights along the West African coast. The company initially traded in gold, hides and ivory, and later expanded its scope of activity to include the slave trade.
The King and his brother, the Duke of York, who later became King James II, were among the company's investors.
Britain was the first Western country to ban the slave trade in 1807 and abolished slavery in the British Empire 26 years later.
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