But it really did not happen that way. When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge complete their weekly Caribbean tour on Saturday, they will report that the tour may have accelerated moves to lose the queen to the head of state. Calls for compensation for slavery and the continuing rage of the Windrush scandal have swept across Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas – overshadowing a trip to strengthen the Commonwealth and discouraging other countries from following the example of the Barbados to . Upon their arrival in Belize, the couple faced protests from villagers over a land dispute involving a charity of which William is a patron. In Jamaica, the prime minister told them in an awkward meeting that the country would “move forward” to become a democracy, and a government commission in the Bahamas urged the kings to issue “a full and official apology for their crimes against humanity.” . The Duchess of Cambridge shakes hands with the children during a visit to Trench Town. Photo: Reuters From photos of Will and Kate shaking hands with children from Jamaica through a wire fence, to the military parade in which the couple stood, dressed in white, in an open Land Rover, the view of the visit has been described by local activists. as a return to colonialism. “This was another photo opportunity and it was rather arrogant to assume that Jamaicans would suddenly welcome William and his wife in open arms,” said Velma McClymont, a Jamaican-born author and former Caribbean academic who was five when country gained independence. “My grandparents could trace generations back to slavery, but they died believing that Jamaica was completely independent. Imagine, 60 years later and it is still an extension of the British Empire. It is a colony of babies, which does not stand alone “. “Monarchy is a relic”: Protests in Jamaica for royal visit – video Followers of travel to the UK may have a different impression. On Friday, the Sun reserved its front page for the tour, saying “Kate is blurring on the Jamaican tour” and suggesting the couple had “touched hearts.” On Wednesday, the Daily Mail published a photo of Kate, the “Duchess who dives”, diving with shark nurses in Belize. The same could not be said for Jamaican media coverage. “It was compiled [the UK] media as an offensive charm, but I’m not so sure it turned out that way. “It was not a royal failure, but I would not consider it a royal success,” said Tyrone Reid, co-editor of the national newspaper Jamaica Gleaner. Reed added that local publications had devoted significant columns to the views of “a growing number of Jamaicans who demanded that the British monarch and the British state apologize and accept their role in the heinous slave trade years ago.” Royal House experts, including a former palace public relations officer, said a huge amount of planning was needed for the visits, often starting years earlier. They are guided by the government in accordance with the diplomatic, cultural and trade priorities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Philip Murphy, a professor at the University of London and former director of the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, said that although the palace “had a relaxed view” of the countries’s’s removal from power, “the British government was less consistent about it. Ministers are believed to be anxious to maintain the benefits of the Commonwealth’s soft power after Brexit. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge see a portrait of the Queen during a visit to Sybil Strachan Elementary School in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo: Ian Vogler / The Daily Mirror / PA “I think the Foreign Office is sometimes a little naive and no longer has a very institutional memory. “There are deep sensitivities about the legacies of colonialism and slavery and the royal presence in the Caribbean, and sometimes you get the feeling that the Foreign Office does not understand enough,” he said. Murphy pointed to the growing emphasis on the link between colonialism and racial oppression following the Black Lives Matter movement, along with the destruction of the royal reputation following Megan Markle’s allegations of racism and the British government through the Windrush scandal. “All these things make it very difficult politically to make this visit right now. “You have the background of a perfect storm,” he said. A better approach to travel, said Professor Trevor Burnard, director of the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at Hull University, would be for the royals to go ready to acknowledge and apologize for the role of the family in the slave trade. , including through visits to monuments to slavery-related sites, such as Kingston Harbor, to express their regrets instead of optimistic photographs. “They must recognize that members of the royal family from Charles II to William IV participated in and supported slavery and the slave trade, and that this is part of their past.” Although a “quiet minority” in Jamaica supported the queen as head of state, there was “great dislike and resentment towards the monarchy,” said Cynthia Barrow-Giles, a professor at the University of the West Indies who has researched the British monarchy in the Caribbean. “[The visit] “It smells of political opportunism and is alarmingly self-serving,” he said. Many Commonwealth members in the Caribbean are increasingly questioning its purpose, especially as they have received little support during the pandemic that has devastated Jamaica’s economy, leaving 120,000 children out of school and pointing to unequal access to vaccines. which has resulted in almost 3,000 deaths on an island of 3 million inhabitants. Jennifer Housen, a lawyer in Jamaica, said the fact that the United Kingdom canceled visa-free access for Jamaicans in 2003, with applications regularly rejected, had made people feel “the relationship is pointless”. The Duchess of Cambridge attends a dinner hosted by Patrick Allen, Governor-General of Jamaica, at King’s House in Kingston, Jamaica. Photo: Toby Melville / PA “These are conversations we have to have with them – not pretty flags and smiling black kids pushing their hand through chain fences to say, ‘Oh, you know, I touched the royals.’ this is rubbish, this encourages something that is completely creepy. “ The compensation movement has grown significantly in the Caribbean in recent years, led by the powerful 15-nation Caricom Reparations Committee. Rosalea Hamilton, one of the advocates of the Advocates Network, which has staged demonstrations for slavery compensation in Jamaica, said there was an “increased awareness of history” at the moment, including an understanding of the legacy of colonialism today, economic, sociological. , psychological”. There was, he said, an increased awareness that this had led to trauma to the population that affected confidence levels, as well as sections of the population living in “unhealthy, unhealthy, unsafe” conditions. Reed said the compensation movement was “gaining momentum” in part because of increased access to information on Jamaican history that went beyond textbooks traditionally teaching a British interpretation of history. “The man on the street also demands compensation, not just on a spiritual level. It is then that you know that something really grows stronger when it spreads to a wide section of society. “More and more people are recognizing the horror of slavery and the atrocities committed and realizing the impact it has on modern life.”
