Every year, the royals go on tour. The chosen royals act as ambassadors for the United Kingdom while they tour commonwealth nations. The royals meet members of other royal families, heads of state and senior officials, often greeting the awaiting public of each nation too. The purpose of the royal tour is to maintain positive relations between the UK and other nations. But this time around, as the Cambridges continue their eight-day tour of the Caribbean, it seems to be doing the exact opposite.
What happened on the royal tour in Belize?
First, there were protests in Belize ahead of Kate and William’s visit to a cacao farm. Local residents of Indian Creek village were already in a property dispute with Flora and Fauna International – a conservation charity of which William is a patron – over who owns land where he and Kate were set to arrive by helicopter ahead of their visit. Protestors held up signs reading 'colonial legacy of theft continues with Prince' and 'not your land, not your decision'.
What happened on the royal tour in Jamaica?
Then, upon arriving in Jamaica, scores of locals protested at the British High Commission in St Andrew, calling for the royal family to pay reparations and apologise for their role in financing and perpetuating the slave trade. The Cambridges were set to meet a host of local government officials, including opposition leader Mark Golding who reported that he would convey the message of many Jamaicans that the royal family must apologise.
‘I would hope that I get the opportunity during the events that I will be attending to have that dialogue with them and to bring it to their attention in a courteous and respectful way that this is the view held by many Jamaicans, and that I think it would be helpful both to the Royal family and Jamaica for them to consider this as a means of starting to move forward to a new future,’ he told the Jamaica Gleaner.
In an official meeting with prime minister Andrew Holness, the royal couple were told that Jamaica plans to sever ties with the British monarchy completely and become a republic. According to The Telegraph, Holness told them that while the country was ‘very happy’ to have them, ‘Jamaica is a very free and liberal country and the people are very expressive and I’m certain that you will have seen the spectrum of expression. There are issues here which are, as you would know, unresolved, but your presence gives an opportunity for these issues to be placed in context, put front and centre and to be addressed as best we can. But Jamaica is, as you can see, a country that is very proud of its history, very proud of what we have achieved.
‘We are moving on and we intend to attain, in short order, our developing goals and to fulfil our true ambitions … as an independent, developed, prosperous country,’ he added.
During his 2016 election campaign, Holness promised the Jamaican public that he would turn the country from a constitutional monarchy into a Republic – introducing a bill to replace the Queen with a ‘non-executive president as head of state’. His party (Labour Party) won a landslide victory in 2016 and 2020, however a promised referendum on the decision has not yet been held.
A picture of William and Kate shaking hands with Black children in Kingston, Jamaica, while separated by wire fencing, has since gone viral on Twitter – dubbed tone-deaf at a time when protests about the legacy of slavery are ongoing.
What happened on the royal tour in the Bahamas?
Jamaica wasn’t the only country to demand reparations for the royal family’s role in slavery - campaigners in the Bahamas have too called for them to atone in a strongly worded open letter. The Cambridges’ arrival in the Bahamas will fall on the 15th anniversary of the United Nations’ International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
‘We, the children of those victims, owe it to our ancestors to remember. We owe it to our ancestors to demand a reckoning and to demand accountability, healing, and justice,’ the letter from the Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC) read. ‘The Duke and Duchess may not be compelled to make such a declaration during their visit to our shores. They may not be able at this time to speak on behalf of the Queen and their government. However, they can no longer ignore the devastation of their heritage.
‘They and their family of royals and their government must acknowledge that their diverse economy was built on the backs of our ancestors. And then, they must pay.’
'Why are we being made to pay again?'
The BNRC – founded to establish legal cases for the payment of repatriations by European countries – also took issue with how much the Bahamian government is spending to accommodate the Cambridges. ‘Why are we footing the bill for the benefit of a regime whose rise to “greatness” was fuelled by the extinction, enslavement, colonisation, and degradation of the people of this land? Why are we being made to pay again?’ the letter continued. ‘Once William and Kate have passed over the newly paved roads, driven by the freshly painted walls, and waved to the schoolchildren who have been pulled out of their classes to stand and watch them go by, what will the Bahamian people be left with?’
According to The Independent, House of Rastafari - an umbrella organisation that represents Rastafarians in The Bahamas – also plans to hold a protest calling for reparations for the enslavement and trafficking of African people before the Cambridges leave the country.
How have the royal family responded to the protests?
The royal tour will end in the Bahamas on Saturday, with debate continuing to rage online about their reaction to this crisis. During their visit to Jamaica, Prince William expressed sympathy for the cause but has drawn criticism for not apologising outright. ‘I want to express my profound sorrow,’ he said during a dinner with Jamaica’s top officials. ‘Slavery was abhorrent and it should never have happened. I strongly agree with my father, The Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history.’
The royal family as a whole is yet to publicly comment on the protests.
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