King Charles’ sorrow over slavery faces test as reparations movement gains ground

King Charles has since 2022 expressed sorrow for the suffering caused by slavery without crossing a line that Britain has ‌long resisted: an apology. That balancing act will likely be tested at next week’s Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda, where Caribbean leaders backing a reparations campaign through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are expected to press their case. Buckingham Palace has indicated Charles would not apologise on behalf of Britain, which has repeatedly ruled out financial reparations over ​its role in the transatlantic slave trade. Speaking in the Bahamas on Tuesday ahead of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that begins ​on Sunday, Charles said it was “only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering and injustices of the past,” ⁠and said leaders from affected countries would discuss the issue at the summit.

But Niambi Hall Campbell-Dean, chair of the Bahamas’ National Reparations Committee, said that ​did not go far enough. “We do not need more carefully crafted words about healing,” she said in a statement. “We need action equal with the scale ​of the harm inflicted. ” On Friday, about 15 people protested ahead of the king’s arrival in Georgetown, Guyana. They gathered outside the Umana Yana, a conical palm-thatched hut originally built for the 1972 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference, where Charles later delivered a speech. “It’s an opportunity to try to impress upon him this historic responsibility for what took place ​here,” said Terence Campbell, a member of parliament for the opposition APNU, who stood among the protesters holding a banner that read: “No apology will ​return what was stolen. Reparations now! ” ROYAL LINKS TO SLAVERY UNDER SCRUTINY From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12. 5 million Africans…