King Charles
*On this date in 2023, King Charles supported research into the British links with transatlantic slavery. This statement came after a document showing a predecessor’s stake in a slave-trading company emerged.
Buckingham Palace released the statement after it was contacted about the extensive history of successive British monarchs’ involvement and investment in the enslavement of African people. Part of the probe is the 1689 transfer of £1,000 shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III from Edward Colston, the company’s deputy governor.
King Charles had previously made public expressions of regret at the suffering that slavery inflicted, describing it as an “appalling atrocity” when visiting a former slaving fort in Ghana in November 2018. In the speech to Commonwealth nations in Rwanda last June, Charles said ways must be found to “acknowledge our past,” including slavery, which he called the “most painful period.”
