Three eggs landed near King Charles III and his wife Queen Consort Camilla during a stroll while visiting northern England on Wednesday (Nov 9).
A man shouted “this country was built on the blood of slaves” and “not my king” as the eggs were thrown at the 73-year-old King Charles III. According to newsmen at the scene, the man booed the royal couple before launching the eggs at them.
People gathered at the crowd chanted “God save the King” and “shame on you” to the demonstrator during the incident.
The royals visited the notable city to attend the inauguration of a statue of Charles’s mother Queen Elizabeth II, the first to be mounted since her death on September 8.
King Charles III and British history
On Tuesday, King Charles III was with artists who are involved in a project exploring Britain’s role in slavery. The king made it clear that he is open to such kinds of discussions and that he is ready to have these conversations and see what can be done.
“He agrees, this is British history, it should not be hidden…..In the same way, we are speaking about the Holocaust, we should be open to speaking about Britain’s involvement in the slave trade,” Fiona Compton, a St Lucian artist and historian who is involved in the project, told reporters.
British monarchy and slave trade
Protests have taken place criticizing the royal family and the British empire for having profited from the slave trade. But in what way does the monarchy have direct historical links to slavery?
Historians and economic experts say it is extremely hard to assess just how much of the present royal family’s affluence is owed to slavery, however, it is understood that the profits of the slave trade funded the Treasury, as well as Britain’s industries, buildings, railways, roads, and parks.
According to Prof Corinne Fowler, an academic at the University of Leicester who focuses on Britain’s colonist legacies, the royal family “has an opportunity to show leadership by acknowledging its involvement, making a formal apology and asking openly and humbly what the family can do to begin to repair the damage”, and a first step to moving on “might be to decide that the Queen should no longer be the ceremonial head of state.”
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