Buckingham Palace has said that King Charles takes a new research project looking into the British royal family’s connection to slavery “profoundly seriously” in a significant new statement on Thursday.
The palace issued a statement after it was contacted by The Guardian, following the news organisation’s discovery of a document from the Royal African Company, which at one point held a monopoly in the British slave trade, showing a transfer to King William III in 1689.
“This is an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously,” the palace said before citing the king’s speech at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda last year.
In the speech, Charles spoke of “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”.
The palace said that Charles’ “process has continued with vigour and determination since His Majesty’s accession” before mentioning how the institution is aiding the research project investigating “the links between the British monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade during the late 17th and 18th centuries”.
The statement concluded: “As part of that drive, the royal household is supporting this research through access to the royal collection and the royal archives.”
The PhD project in question comes from historian Camilla de Koning, co-sponsored by the Historic Royal Palaces charity. The research is expected to conclude in 2026.
The royals have increasingly faced calls to apologize for their role in the slave trade, as some groups have also called for reparations.
Prince William condemned slavery as “abhorrent” during the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s controversial tour of the Caribbean last year.
“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,” William said during a speech in Jamaica in March 2022. “I want to express my profound sorrow. Slavery was abhorrent. And it should never have happened.”