Wessexes hit by ‘pay the price of slavery’ protests

THE Earl and Countess of Wessex were met by protests against British colonialism on arrival in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines yesterday for the second leg of their Caribbean tour.

A small group of 15 demonstrators held signs reading ‘Reparation now’, ‘Down with neo-colonialism’ and ‘Britain your debt is outstanding’.

Prince Edward later met athletes training for the Commonwealth Games, while his wife Sophie spoke to people who raised the alarm when the volcano La Soufriere began erupting at the end of 2020.

The couple’s tour to the region to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee has already proved controversial.

Buckingham Palace last week announced that the Grenada leg of the

‘Do you think we are not worthy of an apology?’

week-long tour had been cancelled. No explanation was given, but it is thought to relate to the risk of protests amid calls for Britain to pay reparations to the country for slavery.

It comes after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were faced with protesters during their recent tour of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

The role of the monarchy is hotly contested across the Caribbean. Barbados axed the Queen as its head of state last year and other countries are set to follow suit.

Questioning the visit by the Earl and Countess, St Lucia radio DJ Sam Flood said: ‘Who really are these Royals? What will they bring to the island that will benefit us as a people?’

Edward and Sophie arrived at St Lucia’s Hewanorra International Airport on a British Airways flight on Friday, where they were greeted by the deputy prime minister, Dr Ernest Hilaire.

After Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Wessexes will travel to Antigua, where more controversy may lie in wait. Last week the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission issued an open letter to the couple, dismissing Prince William’s comments in Jamaica about the ‘abhorrence’ of slavery as ‘phoney sanctimony’.

The letter went on to say: ‘Do you think like members of your family before you that we are a sub-human species and therefore not worthy of an apology?’