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The Grenada leg of a royal tour of the Caribbean has been called off at the last minute – as the family were told by Antigua and Barbuda to avoid “phony sanctimony” over slavery.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex’s seven-day visit is due to begin on Friday as part of Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The decision to take Grenada off the list was taken in “consultation with the government of Grenada and on the advice of the governor general”, Buckingham Palace said.
No further reasons were given.
It follows the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent tour of the region. Speaking in Jamaica, Prince William expressed his “profound sorrow” over the horrors of the slave trade, adding that the “appalling atrocity… forever stains our history”.
He and Kate were accused of benefitting from the “blood, tears and sweat” of slaves and met by a protest calling for reparations from the British monarchy.
Duchess of Cambridge shakes hands with children during a visit to Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica
Now, ahead of Edward and Sophie’s visit, the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission has written an open letter criticising the Royal Family for past comments on slavery.
‘We are not simpletons’
“It has become common for members of the Royal Family and representatives of the government of Britain to come to this region and lament that slavery was an ‘appalling atrocity’, that it was ‘abhorrent’, that ‘it should not have happened’,” the letter says.
It continues: “We hear the phony sanctimony of those who came before you that these crimes are a ‘stain on your history’.
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“For us, they are the source of genocide and of continuing deep international injury, injustice and racism. We hope you will respect us by not repeating the mantra.
“We are not simpletons.”
Cambridge’s tour was ‘horrible exposition’ of ‘colonial behaviour’
Dorbrene O’Marde, Chairperson of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, claims that the cancellation of the Grenada leg of the tour is because of the recent revelations that the Bank of England owned 599 slaves from Grenada in the late 18th century.
Mr O’Marde told Sky News that while there is some “connection” and “admiration” for royalty in the region, an apology for slavery and reparations are still needed.
Protesters demanded slavery reparations when Prince William and Kate visited Jamaica
He described Prince William and Kate’s tour as “a horrible, horrible exposition of archaic colonial behaviour”, with images capturing the couple standing in the back of jeeps and reaching out to children through wire fences.
Mr O’Marde added that while he is sure that those “mistakes will not be made again”, demands for reparations and apologies over slavery will continue.
The open letter by the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission also added that “the European slave trade resulted from the “wilful acts of white Europeans aimed solely at Africans”.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Jamaica last month
“We know that the Crown ‘owned’ enslaved Africans as late as 1831, three years before the passage of the Emancipation Act. Those enslaved included our ancestors. We ask that you respect that.”
The letter continues: “We know that no one today in your family was alive when the crimes against humanity were committed, (but) please do not tell us that again either – as others before you have done.
Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment.
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