King Charles III told the Commonwealth heads of government that the slave trade was a “shameful chapter in history”. However, he did not offer a British apology.
In his address to the Commonwealth meeting, Charles said that slavery filled his “heart with revulsion and my soul with the deepest personal sorrow”. However, he did not offer an apology, and said that Britain’s role in bringing it to an end should be commended, according to The Times.
‘And yet history also teaches us that evil need not have the last word; that character and courage can combine to overcome the most monstrous injustice, as they did with the determination to put an end to the international trade in enslaved people, in which the Royal Navy played such a leading role.”
The King points out a historical fact that people in my circle of friends learnt as schoolboys some 50 years ago, but which British politicians appear to have forgotten, or (most likely) never knew about.
“None of us, of course, would be here today were it not for our history, which has shaped us in myriad ways. History is not ours to choose or to change. It is bequeathed to us in complex synthesis by forebears we can never know.
“Our inheritance encompasses both their achievements and their failures – the good they did as well as the wrongs.
“History can be hard to compass, viewed as it is through the prism of time, which can be both clarifying and distorting, and yet its consequences resonate with contemporary force.”
Burnham gives the Caribbean 40 million pounds following calls for reparations for slavery
“We should learn from history, both as a warning and as inspiration,” Charles went on to say. The past cannot be changed, but the future lies ahead of us,” with blank sheets of paper and paper clips tel”.
‘Through improving access to education, investing in jobs and opportunities, encouraging intraCommonwealth trade and inspiring vital climate resilience measures across the globe, I have always felt that there is so much that can be done to help lift up those who struggle against hardship and disadvantage. I have always tried to play my part in doing just that.
“For, as any sailor navigating the seas knows, we cannot command the winds, least of all where the winds of yesterday have delivered us – but we can choose how we set our sails.”
Who would have thought that King Charles would stand firm whilst Burnham falters?
