Prince Charles: It’s time to acknowledge slavery’s legacy

• Prince Charles spoke at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.
• The delegates left looking moved and encouraged by the prince’s words.
• Prince Charles wants to talk about slavery during his visit to the Commonwealth summit in Kigali.

Late is better than never. At the Friday Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, such was the widespread response to Prince Charles’ opening remarks.

As leader of the group, an alliance of autonomous kingdoms that sprang from the ruins of the British Empire, the prince will succeed his mother. Prince Charles made it plain in his opening remarks that he wants to challenge the current quo and start a conversation about it since that empire would always be linked to slavery.

He told the audience, “While we work together for peace, prosperity, and democracy, I want to realise that the roots of our modern connection go all the way back to the most trying time in our history. “As I continue to develop my grasp of slavery’s continuing effects, I cannot adequately express the depths of my personal grief for the suffering of so many.”

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After the address, the delegates left looking moved and encouraged by the prince’s words. Some may have preferred a more emphatic “sorry,” but it would allow for reparation claims, and that is a matter for the government, not the monarchy.

Charles argued that the Commonwealth must “discover fresh methods to honour our past. Simply put, this is a conversation that needs to be had now. Your Excellencies, listening is the first step in any communication.”

The group from Sierra Leone included Yusuf Keketoma Sandi. To be traded and loaded onto slave ships headed for the Americas, tens of thousands of Africans were kidnapped and taken to Sierra Leone. In the future, it was a British colony.

In his words: “Since slavery has not been discussed, the fact that the prince is doing so today and that we are trying to figure out how to start the dialogue… Sierra Leone is anticipating that, and we hope that once it begins, he will travel and see some of the scars left in Sierra Leone “Queen Elizabeth II still serves as the head of state in 15 nations. Only last year did Barbados replace her with a president chosen locally. A few months earlier, the Jamaican Prime Minister expressed a desire to carry out the same action.

Charles made it plain in Kigali that he would not obstruct nations breaking their connections with the monarchy. He stated: “The Commonwealth includes nations that have had constitutional ties to my family, some of which still have, and an increasing number of nations that have none at all. As I have already stated, I want to be very clear that each member country is solely responsible for deciding whether its constitutional system is a republic or a monarchy.”

Slavery has left a lasting mark on the world. It is an extremely delicate topic. Prince Charles wants to talk about it, and he wants the Commonwealth to be the forum. In the past, royals may have avoided the topic. Instead than serving as a metaphor for the issue, he wants to contribute to the solution.

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