Members of Parliament, experts, and public activists have called on British King Charles to officially apologize for the slave trade after research highlighted the role of the British crown and the Royal Navy in the trade of enslaved Africans over hundreds of years, The Guardian reports.
Previously, the king expressed "personal regret" regarding the suffering caused by slavery and stated his intention to "seek creative ways to overcome persistent inequalities." At the same time, the British crown has not yet issued an official apology.
The book The Crown’s Silence, published this week, details how monarchs – from Queen Elizabeth I to George IV – used the trade of enslaved people to increase the crown's revenues and protect the British Empire.
It is believed that until 1807, the British crown was the largest buyer of slaves.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP for the Clapham and Brixton Hill constituency and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on African reparations, stated that "personal regret" "does not match one of the greatest crimes against humanity."
The king is expected to face renewed calls for action to address the legacy of slavery later this year from Caribbean and African nations during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which will take place in Antigua and Barbuda.
