King Charles urged to give 'formal apology' for UK's colonial past at upcoming coronation

The coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, May 6 will witness celebrations and joy in the United Kingdom, but for some people spread across the world, the historic occasion brings painful memories back. Campaigners, advocacy groups, and indigenous communities in 12 countries where Charles is king have demanded that he uses the coronation as a platform to issue a sincere apology for the centuries of pain and torture inflicted by Britain through slavery and colonisation.

Releasing a joint statement on Wednesday, various groups urged the British monarch "on the date of his coronation being May 6, 2023, to acknowledge the horrific impacts on and legacy of genocide and colonisation of the indigenous and enslaved peoples of Antigua and Barbuda, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines."

"Our collective Indigenous Rights Organisations among other organisations who are working to help our communities recover from centuries of racism, oppression, colonialism and slavery, now rightly recognized by the United Nations as 'Crimes Against Humanity,' also call for a formal apology and for a process of reparatory justice to commence," read the statement, which was also directly delivered to the King.

Campaigners call for repatriation of stolen artefacts 

But a heartfelt sorry won't just be enough. The campaigners have exhorted the 74-year-old monarch to return "all our cultural treasures and artefacts stolen from our peoples throughout the hundreds of years of genocide, enslavement, discrimination, massacre, and racial discrimination by the authorities empowered by the protection of the British crown." 

Furthermore, they said that "the repatriation of all remains of our collective peoples that reside in UK museums and institutions and that represent our family histories, genealogies, cultural history and spiritual ancestry." The statement comes after King Charles hinted earlier in April that he was supportive of research into Britain's problematic past that involves slavery and transatlantic trade.

After The Guardian obtained a paper from 1689 that showed a transfer of £1,000 of shares made by slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III, Buckingham Palace acknowledged that it was "an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously." It also recalled the King's address in Rwanda last year in which he expressed his "personal sorrow at the suffering of so many" and "understanding of slavery’s enduring impact."