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| Volume 53 Number 18, June 17, 2023 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
King Charles slavery links - The Times
It was reported that King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted a Buckingham Palace reception for members of the Windrush generation, when newly commissioned portraits of 10 people from what the King called "a very special generation" were unveiled.
The reception can be seen to be an exercise on the one hand of attempting to wash away the crimes of the monarchy against the people of the Caribbean in particular, its central role in slavery, and the continued exploitation of the Commonwealth as a whole, of which King Charles is the head. On the other hand, it can be seen as an exercise to claim that all is well with Britain's so-called "unity in diversity", so long as everyone shares the same British values of "tolerance", making the best of adversity, and uniting with the monarch as head of state in serving the Great British community in "pain, suffering and joyfulness", to paraphrase the words of the Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee.
Coming at a time when the "Windrush generation scandal" and the inhuman treatment of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are reaching a peak, the reception also reeks of a sickening hypocrisy, an hypocrisy that can easily be seen through by so many people.
As if to emphasise the point, it appears that the portraits will become part of the Royal Collection, thus highlighting in the process that to Charles III, sovereignty implies possession.
The conclusion must be that the monarchy must go, as part of paving the way for the people themselves to control political power.