KINGSTON – Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate on Wednesday his country wants to be “independent” and tackle “unresolved” issues, a day after protesters called on the UK to pay reparations for slavery.
The royal couple arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday as part of a week-long tour of former British Caribbean colonies but have been publicly quizzed on the legacy of the British Empire.
In a speech later on Wednesday, Prince William did not respond to calls to remove his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, as head of state.
The royal couple’s trip comes after Barbados became a republic nearly four months ago by deposing the Queen as sovereign head of state, a move Jamaica has begun to study.
“There are issues here that, as you know, are unresolved,” Holness said during a photoshoot with William and Kate.
“But Jamaica, as you would see, is a country that’s very proud… and we’re moving on.
Dozens of people gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston on Tuesday, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding banners that read “seh yuh sorry” – a local patois phrase urging Britain to apologize. L2N2VP2CB
In a speech at the governor-general’s residence, attended by Holness and other dignitaries, William also made no apology for slavery, although he said he agreed with his father’s declaration that “the appalling atrocity of slavery stains our history forever “.
William, second in line to the British throne, also expressed his “deep sadness” at the institution of slavery, which he said should never have existed.
Jamaican officials previously said the government is studying the process of constitutional reform to become a republic. Experts say the process could take years and would require a referendum.
Jamaica’s government said last year it would ask Britain for compensation for forcibly transporting an estimated 600,000 Africans to work on sugar cane and banana plantations that made fortunes for British slave owners.
reporting by Kate Chappell in Kingston and Brian Ellsworth in Miami; Edited by Bill Berkrot and Muralikumar Anantharaman