Prince William, Kate Middleton asked to ‘apologise for slavery’

Prince William and Kate Middleton are due to visit Jamaica on Tuesday, March 22, however, protestors in the country want them to apologise for the British Empire’s cruel history.

According to The Independent, a protest calling for slavery reparations has been scheduled near the British High Commission in Jamaica’s capital city of Kingston, the same day as Kate and William’s visit.

The protest, that has reportedly been arranged by the Jamaican human rights coalition Advocates Network, will be backed by ’60 reasons for an apology and compensation from the crown’ to mark Jamaica’s upcoming 60th independence anniversary.

Talking to Newsweek, Professor Rosalea Hamilton, of the Advocates Network, said: “I think they (William and Kate) will get a lot of warmth if they apologize and begin to open a new chapter.”

“In the absence of that, it’s more of the same and I think there’s a lot of impatience and people have just had enough,” she added.

Nora Blake, a co-organiser of the protest, told The Independent: “It is important as we turn 60 years old as an independent nation that we stand as ‘adults’ on solid ethical, moral and human justice grounds to say to Britain… that you have done wrong in enriching yourselves off of chattel slavery and colonialism.”

“Morally this requires an apology, and it is only just that reparations be made. Many precedents have been set for this. Today we are setting the conversation of our future generations, for them to have something to build a brighter future,” Blake concluded.

Prince William and Kate, meanwhile, will be visiting Jamaica as one leg of their ongoing week-long Caribbean tour to Belize, Jamaica, and The Bahamas to mark Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee year.