Britain could pay back debt it owes for slavery

When King Charles welcomes the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this weekend, will the leaders of nations that were once Britain’s colonies mark the end of an era or a new beginning with his speech? And as the head of the Commonwealth, can Charles give a fresh impetus and direction to this group of 56 countries united by their association with the British Empire?

It was under his mother, Elizabeth II, that Britain lost its Empire in the aftermath of the Second World War, and the decolonisation began, as Britain’s former possessions scattered far and wide across the globe gradually declared independence. The late Queen cared deeply about the Commonwealth and visited often. She was in Antigua, where Charles will this weekend make his keynote address, for her Silver Jubilee in 1977.

But the deference that once greeted Elizabeth on her Caribbean visits has given way to a more assertive, activist spirit. The Black Lives Matter movement swept across the region in 2020, galvanising demands for Britain to confront its role in slavery — first through a formal apology, and increasingly through reparations for the suffering inflicted on generations of Caribbean people.

But as a constitutional monarch, Charles will not step outside his lane and suddenly issue an apology for the royal family’s own historic ties to slavery, or offer to part with some of his immense personal fortune in the name of reparatory justice. The Burnham government, like those before it, will not pay reparations.

But isn’t there another way for Britain and the King to acknowledge the historical ties which bind the Commonwealth while looking ahead in a way which isn’t merely platitudinous? None other than the King’s host in Guyana, the pugnacious President Irfaan Ali, has suggested ways in which a painful history based on slavery and exploitation could lead to a better future. Guyana is a particularly interesting case study of a country shaped by Britain’s colonial past. The only English-speaking country in South America, Guyana’s population is descended from both enslaved Africans and indentured Indian servants, thanks to John Gladstone, father of Britain’s 19th-century prime minister William Gladstone.

When slavery was abolished in 1834, John Gladstone, who owned numerous sugar-cane plantations in Guyana, needed a new workforce and he brought workers all the way from India. In 2023, the Gladstone family went to Guyana and apologised for the horrors their ancestor had inflicted upon enslaved Africans shipped to Guyana. In a recent ITV News interview, President Ali described slavery as one of humanity’s great injustices, saying: “You can never create a monetary mechanism to address that — but what you can do is to address the development gaps, the development inequality, the underdevelopment that took place as a result of slavery.”

President Ali suggested Britain consider what he called preferential development financing for the Caribbean, debt relief and investment in education, healthcare and climate adaptation. Therein lies a roadmap for Britain to pay back the debt it owes for slavery. Think of how the European Union infrastructure fund transformed Ireland over a generation. Britain could use that template and create a Marshall Plan for the Caribbean.

The King has long been a champion of the environment — once ridiculed for speaking to trees, it turns out he was ahead of his time. Climate change is a clear and present danger to the people of the Caribbean, as ever more intense hurricanes form rapidly, fuelled by warmer waters. Couldn’t the King, when he speaks in Antigua, say his government wishes to begin discussions on how Britain can help the Caribbean and the Pacific islands of the Commonwealth build climate-resilient infrastructure, roads and homes which can withstand the threatening storms? Suddenly, the Commonwealth would have a mandate, an association of democracies linked by the past yet trying to build a better future together.

The past is complicated, but it defines the present in ways we cannot ignore. Grenadian historian Nicole Phillip and I have tried to unravel this complex history in our book, Entangled Past: Apology and Reparations for Slavery in Grenada. After discussions with Grenadians, our family apologized for the crimes of our ancestors, and through an educational charity helping Grenada’s young people, we are trying to make reparation.

As he speaks to Commonwealth leaders in Antigua, King Charles will symbolise this entangled past of the Caribbean and Britain. By embracing Britain’s responsibility to help protect the people of these islands from the perils of climate change, he can give the Commonwealth renewed purpose and vigour.