King Charles supports study into Royal Family slavery links
Buckingham Palace cooperates with study on British monarchy’s ties to slave trade, granting full access to archives and collection. King Charles takes the issue “profoundly seriously,” and the study is expected to be completed in 2026. Previously unseen document in the Guardian reveals transfer of shares in slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III. The King has expressed personal sorrow for the suffering caused by the slave trade and wants to deepen his understanding of its impact.
PhD student Ms de Koning said “the royals are often overlooked when it comes to influence”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme : “It seems like they are just stamping decrees, but they are actually very involved as diplomatic players.
“I’m hoping to change that perspective, that you can see there are way more links between the colonial and the monarch than ever have been investigated, or have ever been noticed, so we can flip that around.”
Dr Edmond Smith, who is supervising Ms de Koning’s project, said the crown has “often been left out of discussions” on the transatlantic slave trade, calling it an “important hole that needed to be filled through the research”.
“How the royal household may take that research on board is something we can only hope to see develop in the coming years,” he added.
The PhD study is co-sponsored by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) which manages several sites.
It started in October, one month after the King came to the throne.
It will look into the extent of any investments from any other slave trading companies.