But the tour – widely dubbed a “charm offensive” in the British press as some Caribbean countries mull over whether to follow Barbados in ousting the Queen as head of state – has seen some turbulence with anti-colonial protests and calls for a Apology experienced and reparations for slavery.
Ahead of the royal couple’s Tuesday arrival in Jamaica, where their itinerary included a celebration of the “pioneering legacy of Bob Marley and other pioneering Jamaican musicians,” 100 people — including leading human rights activists, professors and lawyers — released an open letter with a not-so-celebratory note Volume.
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“During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother did nothing to atone for and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that occurred during her reign and/or throughout Britain’s trade in Africans, enslavement, indebtedness and colonization .” wrote the Advocates Network.
They urged William, 39, who is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, to “redefine” the relationship between the monarchy and Jamaicans, including “recognition of the need for atonement and reparations.”
“We encourage you to act accordingly and just say, ‘Sey, I’m sorry!’ said the letter, which was signed by Jamaicans on the island and in the diaspora community.
In Belize, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Sunday were forced to cancel the tour’s first stop, a planned visit to the Akte’il Ha cocoa farm, amid protests in the village of Indian Creek, where locals said they were not advising them about the visit and are targeting William’s patronage of a conservation organization with which they are engaged in a land dispute.
“We have no comment,” said a spokeswoman for Kensington Palace.
The trip comes at a difficult time for the Queen and the royal family – in the region and at home.
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In November, Barbados, known as “Little England” for its affinity for the big, celebrated 55 years of independence by becoming the first Commonwealth kingdom in three decades to declare itself a republic – the culmination of a debate stretching back to the 1970s Several Caribbean nations took inspiration from the Black Power movement and abolished the monarchy.
That left Elizabeth with 15 Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom.
Republican sentiment has long been building in the Commonwealth’s Caribbean realms, but recently it has gained momentum amid global protests against racism and police violence against blacks, and is calling on Britain to atone for the ugly legacy of colonialism, including through the Payment of reparations for the slave trade.
Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Queen’s grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan last year further fueled these debates. In the interview, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed that an unnamed member of the royal family – not the Queen – asked questions about the skin color of their unborn child.
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After the interview, William insisted the royals were “very much a non-racist family”. Harry and Meghan have given up their royal roles and are living in California with their two children, Archie and Lilibet, the latter of whom is named after their great-grandmother.
In 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May apologized to the leaders of 12 Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean for their treatment of members of the so-called Windrush generation – named after the first ship that brought them to Britain in 1948 when the government was looking for workers Reconstruction after World War II.
Thousands of people from former British colonies arrived from 1948 to 1971. But in recent years, she and her descendants – including those who came as children – have seen their lives turned upside down because they didn’t have the papers to prove their status. Many were denied medical care, lost their jobs or faced deportation threats.
Elizabeth, 95, has mostly been kept away from public engagements in recent months due to health concerns and pandemic restrictions. Her first face-to-face meeting since recovering from Covid-19 was this month when she met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He said she was “as perceptive as ever.”
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Prince Philip, her husband at 73, died last April after a short illness.
Her second son, Prince Andrew, settled last month a sex abuse lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she was smuggled to him by financier Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with the prince in New York, in London and on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean two decades ago when she was 17.
When William and Kate arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday, dozens gathered to protest outside Britain’s High Commission in the capital, Kingston. Some held signs that read, “Kings, queens, princesses and princes belong in fairy tales, not in Jamaica!” and “Who voted for the Queen? Not me.”
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Republicanism and demands for redress for slavery have long simmered in the Caribbean’s largest English-speaking nation. Rosalea Hamilton, a professor and member of the Advocates Network, said they have picked up momentum recently as Barbados became a republic and Jamaica is enjoying an economic recovery from the pandemic that has exacerbated existing inequalities, including some rooted in its colonial past are.
The group published 60 reasons for apologies and reparations from Britain and the royal family – one for each year of Jamaica’s independence.
“We have a history of advocating for redress and repatriation,” said Hamilton, who attended Tuesday’s protests. “What has happened in the past are crimes against humanity that should at least be acknowledged… and at least an apology should be made.”
Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.