King Charles is under renewed scrutiny after groundbreaking research revealed that King George IV personally profited from enslaved labour on Crown-owned estates in Grenada. The findings have reignited calls from Caribbean leaders for the British monarch to apologise and consider reparations, deepening the monarchy’s reckoning with its colonial past.
The study, conducted by independent scholar Desirée Baptiste, uncovered a historic payment of £1,000 in 1823–24 (equivalent to more than £103,000 today) that went directly into King George IV’s private funds. The money came from two royal estates in Grenada where hundreds of enslaved Africans laboured under brutal conditions. Experts say this evidence further cements the monarchy’s direct financial links to slavery.
Arley Gill, chair of the Grenada Reparations Commission, stated that while King Charles has previously expressed sorrow for slavery, such remarks fall short of a formal apology. “He is still the head of state of Grenada,” Gill said. “It will not be worthy of him to lead a country he profited from in slavery without apology and reparations.”
A Long Shadow Over the Monarchy
The revelations follow years of research into the Royal Family’s ties to slavery, with academics and campaigners uncovering new archival evidence. Baptiste’s work, verified by experts at the University of Manchester and University College London, is part of a growing movement to hold the monarchy accountable for its historic role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Professor Edmond Smith, who is overseeing a broader study supported by King Charles himself, warned that the Grenada payment may be “just the tip of the iceberg.” As additional records come to light, the scale of royal profits from slavery could prove far greater than previously known.
King Charles and the Call for Reparations
King Charles addressed the issue of slavery in 2022, calling it a source of “deep personal sorrow.” However, during last year’s Commonwealth summit, he stopped short of addressing reparations directly, a position that has frustrated campaigners. For many in Grenada and across the Caribbean, the time for vague regret has passed.
Recent weeks have seen Jamaica, Grenada, and other nations step up demands for a formal royal apology and compensation. In July, Caribbean leaders supported Jamaica’s petition to King Charles, urging him to seek legal advice on whether the forced transportation of Africans constituted a crime against humanity and whether Britain is obliged to offer redress.
The UK government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected reparations, insisting that “we do not pay reparations.” However, Caribbean campaigners argue that the monarchy, as a separate institution, can take symbolic and material action even without government involvement.
A Tipping Point in the Debate
For King Charles, the stakes are high. Calls to remove him as head of state in Caribbean nations are growing louder, fuelled by evidence of the monarchy’s past profits from slavery. Activists argue that only a full and unambiguous apology, backed by reparative measures, will allow the institution to maintain moral legitimacy in the region.
This moment comes amid a global wave of re-examining historical injustices, from the legacy of colonialism to systemic racial inequalities rooted in slavery. The research linking King George IV’s private wealth to enslaved labour in Grenada adds new urgency to the conversation—and places King Charles at the centre of an uncomfortable debate about the monarchy’s future.
As nations like Grenada push harder for acknowledgment and restitution, King Charles faces a defining choice: continue offering expressions of sorrow without concrete action, or confront the monarchy’s legacy head-on with apologies and reparative commitments.
One thing is clear: the debate over Britain’s royal links to slavery is no longer confined to history books—it is shaping the present, and it could determine the constitutional future of several Commonwealth realms.
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