Warm welcome for Wessexes despite ‘colonialism’ protests
‘For us these crimes are the source of genocide and of continuing deep international racism’
FLAG-WAVING scouts, girl guides and dance students greeted the Earl and Countess of Wessex on the second leg of their tour of the Caribbean yesterday.
There were smiles all round as Prince Edward and his wife Sophie landed in St Vincent and the Grenadines, despite a backdrop of criticism over the Royal Family’s recent comments on the British Empire’s role in the slave trade.
As a steel band played One Love by Bob Marley and the Wailers, the couple were presented with a bouquet of flowers by Ashley Church, a primary school pupil. Before standing on a platform to observe a guard of honour, Edward was greeted by Dame Susan Dougan, the governor-general, followed by acting prime minister Montgomery Daniel.
But the royal couple also met with protest. A group of around 15 people stood outside Government House on the island, with banners reading “end to colonialism, £CompensationNow, down with neo-colonialism and Britain your debt is outstanding”. The Countess met La Gracia Dance Company at the Community College, where she was welcomed enthusiastically by students, keen to show off their outfits.
The dancers performed to a song with lyrics such as “welcome to St Vincent” and she posed for pictures, before heading onto stalls set up next to the college theatre. As part of her aim to champion the need for support and equality for blind and partiallysighted people, the Countess also met representatives of two local organisations: Persons with Disabilities; and the Society of and for the Blind.
She also heard from women’s groups about their role in the response to last year’s eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, which led to the evacuation of 20,000 people. At the same time, Prince Edward visited the national stadium, where he met athletes training for Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games.
The couple were also visiting the Botanical Gardens, the oldest of their kind in the Western Hemisphere. Here they were set to plant a tree to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The tour got off to a rocky start after the Earl and Countess received a warning from another Caribbean country over slavery. During a speech in Jamaica last month, Prince William expressed his “profound sorrow” for slavery but stopped short of offering an apology.
In an open letter the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission urged the Earl and Countess not to indulge in “the phony sanctimony of those who came before you that these crimes are a ‘stain on your history’”. It added: “For us, they are the source of genocide and of continuing deep international injury, injustice and racism.”