Should King Charles stump up?

[faferandom]

All this talk of reparations from one of the world’s richest men!!!! I don’t think the British taxpayer should stump up, but I do think the King could sell a palace and fund permanently a huge amazing high school for the Caribbean….thoughts?

No, how can he be held responsible for something that happened over 200 years ago. We weren’t the only country to be involved.

The palaces don't belong to the King and they are not his to sell, they belong to the Crown - aka the nation.

No amount of money spent can make up for the wrongs done due to slavery and doesn't address the issues of racial and economic inequality that have resulted, in part, due to slavery. Plenty of people also find the idea of reparations insulting and that they reinforce the view of Black people in particular as victims. Also the King's finances are not fully independent of monies that are publicly linked, as well as hereditary institutional wealth. So the tax payer does feature in this. Neither does he own any of the palaces - he owns some estates such as Sandringham, but as I say it's not a palace, not like Buckingham or Holyrood.

Also the suggestion of running a school is an interesting choice given that systems of education across the Caribbean, while independent and progressive, are still very much rooted in practices founded during the British Empire. So no, in a nutshell, I don't think it would be a good idea and is rife with complexities that arguably contradict what any type of financial reparation would seek to ameliorate.

I do think the King could sell a palace and fund permanently a huge amazing high school for the Caribbean….thoughts?

The King doesn't own any palaces.

We weren’t the only country to be involved.

Yes. What are the Americans, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Arabs going to do? Some of them were engaged in slavery and the slave trade long after it had been made illegal for Britons to participate in it.

Perhaps you should do more research on the Slavery issue.

What a dumb post.

As others have said, the palaces are owned by the nation and held in trust for following monarchs. And why is Charles personally responsible for the Slave Trade? Britain banned slavery in 1832. Maybe you should have a look at the USA in the 1960s - 130 years later and see what life was like in Alabama for black people and what rights they had.

Be far more use if wankers like Trump and Musk did something for humanity.

If we offer reparations to Caribbean countries then we’d owe reparations to a host of other countries because of our Empire.

Not sure you can put a number on what descendants of slaves are owed. Should descendants of local people who participated in the trade be pursued for money too?

I’m not convinced that reparations for descendants of slaves is more important than people currently affected by war. Eg people in refugee camps today.

The King does not own the palaces. None of the royal family do. You really need to educate yourself there before spouting such claptrap.

The palaces are owned and maintained by Crown Estates. They are not the monarch's to sell.

The slave trade was horrific and nothing to be proud of, but the UK was certainly not the only nation involved and all should own their part in it.

No. Why on earth should he??
Notwithstanding the fact we could do with some amazing high schools ourselves! What a daft idea.

You want reparations, start with the sellers of slaves; or perhaps address the issue of modern slavery. Some 40 to 50 millions people, according to Mark Galeotti.

He could sell Balmoral or Sandringham - legally. How many roofs does one family really need? Maybe not a school - but some major worthwhile project with an impact for future generations in Caribbean. Or. He could just turn up and offer a few cheap placating words.

So who would you suggest steps up first then?

Totally agree! And if the royals stumped up their fair share of taxes as we all do - there’d be more money in the coffers for those great schools

Much of the historic accumulation of wealth that we see enjoyed today by the royals was gathered our armies, slave drivers, lords etc all under the instruction of our great kings & queens. I’m suggesting they hand some of it back instead of just rocking up looking sheepish

In 1833, Great Britain used 40% of its national budget to pay to free slaves across the British empire.

Great Britain borrowed so much money to pay off the abolition of slavery act that it was not fully paid off until 2014.

Meaning that most British citizens are alive already have already paid off their debt with their taxes.

SO NO, WE SHOULD NOT BE PAYING IT OFF IN THE SLIGHTEST NOT ONE MEMBER OF THIS COUNTRY OR ANYBODY ELSE. NO ONE IS ALIVE FOR THE ATROCITIES THAT HAPPENED HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO.

or should we start asking Norway to pay us compensation because Vikings took slaves in their tens of thousands when they invaded England.

E2A: Double post

That money went to the slaveowners though.

Maybe they could pay ?

Britain borrowed money to compensate the slave owners for losing their enslaved people. The enslaved people themselves received absolutely nothing. Is that just tough shit then?

This. We weren't the only people to be involved in this, and I am sick of the whole vibe suggesting we were. No-one EVER gets any shade thrown on them except the ENGLISH!

Also, no-one alive today is responsible for what happened many years ago. No-one should be paying anyone. No reparations are needed, and it's coming across as rather grabby. (Especially when you take into account the fact that all the people holding their hands out were not affected by what happened 200+ years ago.)

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King George 3rd was instrumental in ending slavery the Royal Family should be thanked for their long standing anti slavery stance

Andy Burnham has made it clear this is a matter for the government. The King would be going beyond his role as constitutional monarch if he said or did anything without ministerial advice.

All the people who pop up on these threads banging on about wealth and taxes ignore the millions of revenue from the Crown Estates which is handed back to the Treasury each year. (And the Treasury doesn't tell anyone what it does with the money.) Either they're deliberately posting in bad faith, or they're just too dim to read around and understand the subject. I favour the second explanation.

So what if there's loads made from The Crown Estates? Doesn't mean any of it has to be given to anyone.

Errr I think you’ll find that others have coughed up and apologised - Netherlands and Germany. I’m suggest that our King might like to - himself.

Have the governments of African nations, those selling people from their own countries paid yet?

Well, if I was legally exempt from Income Tax, CGT, and inheritance tax - I’d be kissing Burnhams cheeks too!