SAN JUAN – As the royals prepare to arrive, Caribbean communities are pressing Britain to confront its colonial past.
Across the region, islanders are demanding reparations for slavery, a formal British apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade and greater independence from the former colonial power.
The Bahamas National Reparations Committee said it already knows what may greet the Caribbean as King Charles III and Queen Camilla begin this week’s visit: “Schools emptied of children who will stand in the sun and wave for the Crown that has taken everything from their ancestors and comes back smiling.”
Charles is expected to arrive in the Bahamas on Tuesday, launching a nine-day Caribbean tour. His previous official visit to the archipelago came in July 1973, when, as a prince, he granted the Bahamas independence after 300 years of British rule. The country remains a Commonwealth realm, alongside six other Caribbean nations that recognize Charles as king and head of state.
During his time in the Bahamas, Charles is scheduled to visit Clifford Park, the site where the archipelago’s black, turquoise and yellow flag was first raised more than five decades ago.
Niambi Hall Campbell-Dean, chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, said the visit will bring fundamental questions about the country’s relationship with the monarchy to the forefront.
“Why do we still have a king? What does this person really represent to us? Why is he coming and how will that benefit us?” she asked.
Campbell-Dean, a psychology professor at the University of the Bahamas, said her students showed little enthusiasm when she recently brought up Charles’ visit. She told them: “I know y’all might not care about this man who is coming, but here’s why this is of importance.”
Caribbean leaders have spent years seeking an apology and reparations from Britain.
Jamaica took its reparations case to Charles in early September. The matter has since been sent to the United Kingdom’s highest court of appeal for the Caribbean island, in an unprecedented legal move. The British government, however, has consistently rejected calls for an apology or compensation.
A visit to Guyana more than 200 years after a slave revolt
After three days in the Bahamas, Charles is expected to travel to Guyana, the South American nation that was once a British colony. Guyana was the scene of one of the region’s largest slave uprisings during the colonial era, when thousands of enslaved people joined the 1823 Demerara rebellion on a plantation owned by the father of former British Prime Minister William Gladstone.
More than 200 enslaved people were killed after the revolt; several were decapitated, with their heads displayed on poles.
In a recent interview with ITV News, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said Charles had “rightfully recognized slavery as the darkest days in human history.”
“Moving to the apology is the next step,” Ali said. “You exploited the region. You destroyed lives. You created underdevelopment.”
In Guyana, Charles is expected to meet Ali as well as elected leaders of Amerindian villages known as “toshaos.”
Nikita Miller, the toshao of Chinese Landing, a rural Amerindian community in northern Guyana, said she was not among those invited to meet him.
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Miller said her community has spent decades fighting miners who want to extract gold from its land. She would have welcomed the chance to raise an issue that affects Chinese Landing and other toshaos.
“We have been suffering,” she said. “We want the government to respect Indigenous rights. … We have long-standing issues with our land.”
Miller said she hoped the king’s visit could help Guyana as a whole, but she was doubtful it would bring meaningful change to Amerindian villages.
After two days in Guyana, Charles is scheduled to fly to Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and meet with leaders of 56 member states. Talks are expected to focus on climate, trade and development, but some Caribbean leaders have said slavery reparations should dominate conversations.
The royals to skip Jamaica as it seeks more independence
The British royals have long visited Jamaica, but it’s not on Charles’ itinerary this time.
It’s just as well, said 51-year-old Rastafarian Steven Bennett.
“We don’t need any royal wave or photo-taking while the wounds of our ancestors are still being ignored. He still refuses to formally apologize for chattel slavery,” Bennett said. “Until the British monarchy is ready to stand on Jamaican soil, look us in the eye, apologize, and talk about actual repair and restitution, he has no business here. We want justice, not a parade.”
Jamaica in recent years has been pushing to oust Charles as head of state and become a republic like Barbados did in 2021.
Antonio Williams, a 25-year-old university student, said young Jamaicans have zero connection to the Crown.
“I think Buckingham Palace has read the room after the absolute PR disaster of William and Kate’s Caribbean tour a few years back,” he said, referring to the 2022 visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to the region, where they faced protests and calls for reparations.
“We are actively moving toward becoming a republic and breaking these colonial ties,” Williams said. “Having the king visit now would just be incredibly awkward. Skipping us is a sign that they know their influence here is expiring.”
But 68-year-old retired civil servant Hermine Reid recalled with fondness how Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, used to visit Jamaica.
“It was always such a grand, respectful occasion, and people would line the streets in their Sunday best,” she said. “Things are very different now. It’s a little sad for my generation to see how much the relationship has fractured, but I suppose this is simply the modern era. Jamaica is growing up and charting its own course, and the king clearly recognizes that.”
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Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica.
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