The accession of King Charles III. led to renewed calls from politicians and activists in former English colonies in the Caribbean to remove the monarchical head of state from their countries and demand that Britain pay reparations for slavery.
Charles succeeds his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years and died at Balmoral Palace in Scotland on Thursday afternoon.
Jamaica’s prime minister said his country would mourn Elizabeth’s death, and his counterpart in Antigua and Barbuda ordered flags to be flown at halfmast until the day of her funeral. But unofficially there are doubts as to what role a distant monarch should play in the 21st century.
Earlier this year, at a summit in Kigali, Rwanda, some Commonwealth leaders expressed unease at the handover of leadership of the 56nation club from Elizabeth to Charles.
Shortly thereafter, a trip to Jamaica and the Bahamas by the current Princes of Wales, William and Kate, was marred by demands for reparations and an apology for slavery.
“As the role of the monarchy changes, we hope this is an opportunity to advance reparations discussions for our region,” said Niambi HallCampbell, an academic who chairs the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, on Thursday.
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HallCampbell offered his condolences to the Queen’s family and noted Charles’ recognition of the “heinous atrocities of slavery” in a ceremony last year that marked the end of British rule in Barbados. The country became a republic.
She said she hopes Charles will lead in a way that “reflects the justice demanded of the time. And that justice is reparative justice.”
More than ten million Africans were handcuffed by European nations and taken into the Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries. Those who survived the brutal journey were forced to work on plantations in the Caribbean and America.
Jamaican reparations attorney Rosalea Hamilton said Charles’ comments in a speech broadcast at the Kigali Conference about his personal grief over slavery gave “a measure of hope that he will learn from history and understand the painful effects many are feeling.” Nations have suffered to this day” and will address the need for reparations.
The new king made no mention of reparations in his speech.
2 of 2 Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a conference of Commonwealth Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda, June 2022. — Photo: Dan Kitwood via AP
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a conference of Commonwealth Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda, in June 2022. — Photo: Dan Kitwood via AP
The Advocates Network, which Hamilton coordinates, released an open letter during William and Kate’s visit, asking for an “apology and redress”.
The Queen’s grandchildren would have a chance to lead the talk on reparations, Hamilton added.
The Jamaican government last year announced plans to seek compensation from Britain for forcibly transporting some 600,000 Africans to work on the sugar cane and banana plantations that made fortunes for British slave owners.
“Whoever takes office should be asked to allow the royal family to pay reparations to Africans,” said David Denny, general secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration in Barbados.
“We must all work to remove the royal family as heads of state from our nations,” he said.
Jamaica has signaled it may soon follow Barbados and relinquish royal rule. Both remain members of the Commonwealth.
An August poll showed that 56% of Jamaicans supported removing the British monarch as head of state.
Mikael Phillips, an opposition member of the Jamaican Parliament, tabled a motion in 2020 to support removal.
“I hope, as the prime minister said in one of his statements, that he will move faster when a new monarch is in office,” Phillips said Thursday.
Allen Chastanet, a former prime minister of Saint Lucia and now leader of the opposition, told Portal he supports a “general” move towards republicanism in his country.
“I would certainly advocate becoming a republic at this point,” he said.