King Charles III for the first time indicated his support for research into the British monarchy’s relations to slavery
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said Thursday that King Charles III for the first time expressed support for research into the British monarchy’s ties to slavery after a document showed an ancestor with shares in a slave-trading company.
The palace said Charles takes the case “deeply seriously” and academics will be given access to the royal collection and archives.
The statement came in response to an article in the Guardian that revealed a document showing that the deputy governor of the Royal African Slave Trading Company transferred 1,000 pounds of shares in the business to King William III in 1689.
The newspaper reported that the document was part of a series of stories about royal wealth and finance, as well as the monarchy’s connection to slavery.
Charles ascended the throne last year after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. His coronation is scheduled for May 6.
Charles and his eldest son, Prince William, both lamented slavery, but did not acknowledge the Crown’s connections to the trade.
The king said he was trying to deepen his understanding of the “enduring impact of slavery” that runs so deeply in the Commonwealth, an international grouping of countries made up mostly of former British colonies.
During a ceremony marking Barbados’ becoming a republic two years ago, Charles recalled “the darkest days of our past and the horrific horrors of slavery that have stained our history forever”. English settlers used African slaves to turn the island into a wealthy sugar colony.
The research on the monarchy’s links to slavery is being sponsored by Historic Royal Palaces and the University of Manchester, and is expected to be completed by 2026.
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