A former BBC reporter, who quit her job at the news organization in March 2023, demanded Monday that King Charles III issue an apology regarding the royal family’s ancestors’ involvement with the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
“I would hope very much that in the coming years, he can apologize for the royal family’s historic links to slavery and make a meaningful financial gesture that would be seen as reparative,” Laura Trevelyan, 55, told People. “But what that figure is, I have no idea.”
Trevelyan, who currently leads a group of British families looking to make amends for their family’s involvement in the trade, revealed that in February she donated $127,000 of her savings to the government in Grenada after discovering her family once owned a thousand slaves from the Caribbean country.
The former journalist is now asking the new King, who said in April that he would welcome an investigation into his family’s ties to the slave trade, to do the same.
“There would be a great healing power to an apology for slavery and some kind of reparative justice strategy from the King,” Trevelyan said to the outlet.
According to Trevelyan, she understands why Charles, 74, hasn’t simply apologized for the actions.
“Presumably there’s a memo somewhere in Whitehall which says you can’t apologize because if you do, that opens you up for liability,” Trevelyan explained.
“[The King’s] clearly doing as much as he possibly can and as a constitutional monarch who can’t step ahead of the position of the government,” the former political correspondent elaborated. “But he is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England. And the church has apologized for its historic links to slavery and set up a hundred million pound fund.”
According to the NYC-based reporter, the apology from the head of state is “not just possible, but it’s important to do.”
The Post reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
During a visit to the Bahamas in 2021, then-Prince Charles condemned the practice of slavery, which was legal in the UK until 1834.
“From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history, the people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude,” the former Prince of Wales said. “Emancipation, self-government and independence were your waypoints. Freedom, justice and self-determination have been your guides.”
“Your long journey has brought you to this moment, not as your destination, but as a vantage point from which to survey a new horizon,” Charles continued.
Charles continued to condemn the practice during a speech in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2022 when he told locals that it was his wish to build a “new and enduring friendship.”
“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,” Charles said in his speech. “Many of those wrongs belong to an earlier age with different – and, in some ways lesser – values. By working together, we are building a new and enduring friendship.”
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