The king’s support for an investigation into the monarchy’s ties to slavery could lead him to fund scholarships for the descendants of enslaved people, a prominent campaigner predicted yesterday.
Former BBC correspondent Laura Trevelyan – whose family this year donated £100,000 in apology for their ancestors’ slave ownership – said Charles’s support for the research was a ‘welcome first step in the recognition process’.
She said he should consider whether to apologize for past British monarchs’ involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
She added: “I see the King, who has shown through the Prince’s Trust that he is very philanthropic, is funding scholarships and educational opportunities aimed at descendants of the enslaved people of Britain and the Caribbean. ‘
Her comments follow warnings that Charles’s support of academic research by the University of Manchester and Historic Royal Palaces could open the door for the royal family facing demands to pay damages or reparations.
King Charles III is expected to await the results of the academic study before deciding on his response.
Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday it was cooperating in a groundbreaking investigation into the royal family’s historic involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, saying the king was taking the matter “very seriously”.
Ms Trevelyan’s family issued a public apology this year after it emerged that their ancestors owned more than 1,000 slaves on plantations on the island of Grenada. They donated £100,000 to set up the Reparations Research Fund at the University of the West Indies.
The family has also called on the government to enter into negotiations with authorities in the Caribbean over national reparations for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
Ms Trevelyan, 54, who left the BBC to take part full-time in the Caribbean’s fight for reparatory justice, welcomed the King’s support for the study project.
She tweeted: “The King’s support for research into the royal family’s ties to slavery is a welcome first step in the process of recognition. Then the King will consider how best to respond. To apologize to descendants of the enslaved people, in the Caribbean and in Britain?’
Following the announcement of the palace this week, there were immediate calls from campaigners in the Caribbean for talks. But royal sources said the issue of paying reparations or making charitable donations was “entirely speculative.”
The King is expected to await the results of the scientific investigation before deciding on his response.
The three-year project, to be reported in 2026, is expected to examine the involvement of past rulers in slave-trading businesses, including the Royal African Company and its deputy governor Edward Colston, whose statue was toppled by anti-racism activists in Bristol harbor.
Former BBC correspondent Laura Trevelyan said Charles’s support for the research was a ‘welcome first step in the recognition process’.
Historians welcomed the decision to open the Royal Archives and Collection to researchers for the study, but said Charles should go further.
Professor Trevor Burnard, director of the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull, said: ‘What needs to happen is for the monarch to take some responsibility for the personal ties his family has to this history, which is so well established.
‘That would mean doing what other institutions have done: acknowledging what happened and investigating what they are going to do. That goes beyond supporting further research.’
Last month, The Guardian newspaper published an apology after it emerged that nine of the first 11 backers were involved in the slave trade through textile and cotton production, including founder and editor John Edward Taylor.
The Scott Trust, which owns the newspaper, has pledged to invest more than £10 million in improving the lives of black people in Britain and around the world.
The National Trust was accused of pursuing an “awakened” agenda when it produced a report exploring the links between its properties and colonialism, including slavery. And English Heritage has updated the online submissions for blue plaque recipients with links to the slave trade.
Charles has previously condemned the trade as a “terrible atrocity.” Campaigners have called on Britain to wipe out the debts of enslaved countries and lift visa restrictions on the descendants of enslaved people.