Prince Charles says ‘time has come’ to confront legacy of slavery

A version of this story appeared in the June 24 edition of CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on Britain’s royal family. Sign up here. The prince will succeed his mother as head of the organization — an association of independent states that emerged out of the ashes of the British Empire. That empire will forever be associated with slavery, and Prince Charles made it clear in his opening remarks that he wants to change the status quo and begin a dialogue about it. “While we strive together for peace, prosperity and democracy I want to acknowledge that the roots of our contemporary association run deep into the most painful period of our history,” he told delegates. “I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many, as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact. “Those delegates coming out after the speech appeared moved and heartened by the prince’s words. A more resounding “sorry” would have suited some better but that would open the way for reparation claims and that’s a government issue, not one for the monarchy. Charles said the Commonwealth needs to “find new ways to acknowledge our past. Quite simply, this is a conversation whose time has come. Your Excellencies, conversations start with listening.”Yusuf Keketoma Sandi was part of the Sierra Leone delegation. Tens of thousands of Africans were kidnapped and brought to Sierra Leone, to be traded and put on slave ships bound for the Americas. It later became a British colony.He told us: “Slavery has not been part of the conversation, so the fact that we have the prince today talking about slavery and to see how we want to start that conversation… Sierra Leone is looking forward to that and we hope that when it starts he will pay a visit to Sierra Leone and go and see some of the scars left in Sierra Leone.”There are still 15 countries that have Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Barbados only replaced her with a locally appointed president last year. The Prime Minister of Jamaica voiced the desire to do the same a few months ago. In Kigali, Charles made clear he would not stand in the way of countries cutting ties with the monarchy. He said: “The Commonwealth contains within it countries that have had constitutional relationships with my family, some that continue to do so, and increasingly those that have had none. I want to say clearly, as I have said before, that each member’s constitutional arrangement, as republic or monarchy, is purely a matter for each member country to decide.”The scars of slavery run deep across the planet. It couldn’t be a more sensitive subject. Royals may have shied away from it in the past but Prince Charles now wants to talk about it and he wants the Commonwealth to be the platform. He wants to be part of the solution instead of a symbol of the problem. ROYAL TEA BREAK

“It’s not easy. I was scrutinised for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it. Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and, you know, criticised…But I think in the end, I sort of rise above it and get on with it. You’ve got to get on with life.”
The Duchess of Cornwall on the media scrutiny she faced in the 90s.