London, United Kingdom. Campaigners for slavery reparations and scholars criticised the British monarchy after King Charles posed with Caribbean officials at a reception beneath a portrait of George IV, who profited from enslaved labour on plantations in Grenada.
Commonwealth Day reception at St. James’s Palace
Charles hosted several Caribbean representatives on March 10 at St. James’s Palace for the annual Commonwealth Day reception. Attendees included the foreign ministers of Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Grenada’s high commissioner to Britain, Rachér Croney, also attended alongside other Caribbean diplomats.
Photograph shared by Caribbean officials
A group of 29 guests posed for a photograph with Charles and British foreign minister Yvette Cooper beneath a large portrait of George IV. The image was later shared across several accounts of some Caribbean foreign ministries and by a high commissioner.
Research on payments linked to Grenadian estates
Research by independent scholar Desirée Baptiste shared with Reuters last year found that 1,000 pounds ($1,331.20), about 103,000 pounds today, were paid into George IV’s private coffers from two Crown-owned Grenadian estates worked by hundreds of enslaved people in the 18th and 19th centuries.
George IV reigned from 1820 to 1830.
Calls for the monarchy to confront slavery ties
Experts said the finding increases pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical ties to slavery, including issuing a full apology and acknowledging the ways it profited from it.
“It is offensive to have his portrait up,” Arley Gill, chairman of Grenada’s National Reparations Committee, said. “It is doubly offensive to have persons of African descent with the king below a photograph of him.”
Gill said the criticism of the photograph presented an opportunity for some Caribbean representatives to better educate themselves on the history of slavery.
What steps do you think Caribbean representatives should take in response to the criticism of the photograph?