In the US the subject of reparations has moved beyond mere debate and is very much in the public domain, from National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates’ powerful polemic to the Chicago city council voting to establish a Reparations Commission to investigate how one of the most segregated cities in the US can best make amends for the impact of slavery.
In the UK, however, when it comes to reparations, we remain very much at the starting line. And while the subject of race has been much in the headlines of late – I have never seen so many black faces on Good Morning Britain – what has not been mentioned is the role of the Royal family in the slave trade.
The Royal African company was a trading company led by James II which for 100 years shipped more enslaved Africans to the Americas than any other institution.
It made millionaires of a number of men and England’s cities are littered with their names, and of course, the trade brought immense wealth to the Royal coffers.