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Caribbean countries are increasing pressure on King Charles III to apologize for the British Crown’s ties to slavery.

“The king not only has the opportunity to apologize, but also the time to create the architecture of change and the architecture of negotiations to move things forward.”Caricom Reparations Commission vice-chairman Eric Phillips told British TV channel Sky News.

Charles is head of state of several British ex-colonies in the Caribbean that belong to the Commonwealth. In several countries, such as Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, calls to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic have increased recently.

Numerous countries from the region have joined together in the commission to demand reparations for former colonial powers. In the past, Charles had expressed his “personal sorrow at the suffering of so many people” and for the first time allowed the royal family’s historical links to slavery to be examined. Heir to the throne Prince William also had clear words. However, the requested apology is still pending.

This needs to happen this year, Phillips said. “Given everything happening in the world regarding justice, Black Lives Matter and human rights, now is the time.” It’s fitting that Charles apologizes now. There are many examples of lingering disadvantages for the descendants of slavery, Phillips said, citing a lack of technology, underdevelopment and poverty. “Racism was the second atomic bomb, but slavery was the first,” he said.

Other monarchs and descendants of slave owners have already apologized, including Dutch King Willem-Alexander and the British noble Trevelyan family.

Historians have proven the British Crown’s involvement in the slave trade. In the 17th century, King Charles II helped found the Royal African Company, which brought nearly 200,000 enslaved Africans to the British colonies, where they were forced to work on plantations, among other things. A few decades later, King William of Orange received numerous shares in the company of the slave trader Edward Colston. Colston’s statue was thrown into Bristol Harbor in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests. (sda/dpa)