King Charles told presidents and prime ministers of the Commonwealth’s 56 member states that the transatlantic slave trade fills his heart with horror and his soul with the most profound personal sorrow, but he did not offer an apology.
Speaking in Antigua, he said his commitment was growing to find ways to address the wrongs of the past with action for the future. He told the gathering that history inspires, can appal and can always teach, and that the actions of those who came before cannot be changed. The trade in enslaved persons, he said, still casts a shadow over the islands and other Commonwealth members.
Charles said evil need not have the last word, recalling the determination to end the international trade in enslaved people and the leading role of the Royal Navy. He said listening, learning and looking had made him more committed to a modern partnership that addresses past wrongs with future action. He added that none of those present would be there without a history that includes both achievements and failures.
His address came as Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a change in long-established Government policy, offering talks on a slavery apology but not financial reparations. St Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community, has reportedly said the bloc was ready to engage in that structured dialogue.
Calls for an apology and reparations from the UK have grown in recent years. Around the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, roads were closed for security. A small protest at the perimeter carried placards reading “You say you regret so apologise” and “Apologise for the greatest crime against humanity and let’s have reparatory justice”.
The brief records a long royal association with the transportation and sale of enslaved people: Elizabeth I backed John Hawkins, Charles II encouraged expansion of the enterprise, and the Duke of Clarence, later William IV, opposed abolitionists.
In a speech of about 15 minutes, Charles pointed to education, jobs and opportunities, intra-Commonwealth trade and climate resilience as ways to help people facing hardship. At Antigua and Barbuda’s national performing arts centre in St John’s, he said trust between nations is under critical strain, brutal conflict is destroying lives, and technology is transforming societies and economies at dizzying speed. He said the Commonwealth, drawing on the collective ingenuity of a third of humanity, offered an unparalleled opportunity to work together.
Andy Burnham sat on stage with host prime minister Gaston Browne. At a later hotel reception for leaders who had taken office since the last summit, Burnham told the King the speech was perfect and added, “Well done.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor, called the address very good. The ceremony also included speeches by Browne and Commonwealth Secretary General Shirley Botchwey and a musical dance performance on aspects of Antigua’s history.