King Charles III stood at Clifford Park in Nassau on Tuesday, the ground where he handed the Bahamas its independence in 1973, and said what Britain’s government has refused to say as policy. “It is only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering and injustices of the past in these islands and beyond,” he told a youth rally. He did not apologize, and he did not mention money.
That gap is the story. Britain carried about 3.2 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. When slavery ended in 1834, the government compensated enslavers, a sum usually put at about £17 billion in today’s money. The people they had enslaved received nothing. Their descendants make up most of the Caribbean’s population, and they are now asking for the bill to be reopened.
What the King said, and did not
Charles said some of what is best in Bahamian culture “was born out of darkness.” He added: “None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure.”
Buckingham Palace had said beforehand that he would not offer a formal apology, because such matters are for governments. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out an apology and has rejected reparations, though he has said he is willing to talk with leaders who want to raise it. Outside the park, Rastafarian demonstrators lined the road. “Pay us what you owe us!” one shouted, and another said: “I stand in memory of the horrors and the atrocities committed against Black people.”
What CARICOM wants
The Caribbean Community, which has 23 members, has a 10-point plan for reparatory justice. It calls for a full formal apology, debt cancellation, support for the psychological harm that has passed between generations, museums and cultural institutions, and a program of repatriation.
Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, told ITV News that the King’s words were only a start. Recognizing the “darkest days” is “the first step,” he said. “Now, moving to the apology is the next step.” Charles visits Guyana on Thursday.
The courtroom route
Jamaica has gone around London’s refusal. On Sept. 7 it petitioned the King to refer questions on the legality of enslavement and any British obligation to repair it to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for several Commonwealth countries. A hearing is provisionally set for the week of March 8, 2027. The Privy Council, not Downing Street, would answer.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Botchwey has said reparations are expected to be discussed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, scheduled for Nov. 1 to 4. Charles will address the 56 member nations there. Whether London agrees to anything beyond talk will be tested in that room.
Have your say