The former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan has called for King Charles and the British government to apologise for historical links to the slave trade.
In February, Trevelyan went to Grenada and read out a formal apology on behalf of her family to islanders who had descended from enslaved people and announced a £100,000 educational fund drawn from her own savings. Members of her family tree had owned at least a thousand enslaved people on the Caribbean island.
Earlier this month, King Charles announced he will cooperate with a study of the British monarchy’s historical links with transatlantic slavery after the emergence of a document showing a predecessor’s stake in a slave-trading company.
Buckingham Palace released the statement after it was contacted by the Guardian about the extensive history of successive British monarchs’ involvement and investment in the enslavement of African people.
The Guardian published a previously unseen document showing the 1689 transfer of £1,000 of shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III, from Edward Colston, the company’s deputy governor.
Later this month the Trevelyan family and other British families will form a group to exert more pressure.
Trevelyan, the former political and America correspondent for the BBC, told the Times: “We’ve apologised, why can’t the King? Reckoning is coming.”
The 54-year-old, who grew up in Camden, north London, and now lives in New York, added: “It’s important to acknowledge that Britain was a leading slave trader. Britain’s economic prosperity, and particularly the Industrial Revolution, was to some degree built on wealth accumulated through slavery.
“Rishi Sunak himself is a child of empire with roots in the Punjab. Maybe a son of empire can move to repair the damage and heal the hurt – not just in the Caribbean, but in Britain too – which is felt by descendants of the enslaved.
“Apology is the first step, which is why it’s so significant that the British government and royal family haven’t apologised. Regret is expressed. I think it’s necessary to go further.”
Trevelyan first travelled to Grenada last year to make a documentary for the BBC about the slavery issue and handled whips and neck braces, as well as metal manacles specially ordered by the British enslavers for small children.
When asked if she felt guilt, she said: “Actually, I didn’t. Guilt is not the word I would use because it wasn’t me. I would say that I was shocked, and ashamed.”
