Charles gives no apology for colonial violence
But also says ‘no excuses’ during visit to Kenya
NAIROBI — In his first public remarks as monarch on colonial atrocities, during his first visit as king to a Commonwealth country, King Charles III said there were “no excuses” for the “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans” during their struggle for independence from Britain, but he did not offer the full apology that many people in Kenya have called for.
Speaking at a state banquet on Tuesday, Charles hewed closely to the British government line, saying he felt “the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the wrongdoings of the past. He steered clear of any language that might open a broader conversation about reparations.
Kenya, which is marking the 60th anniversary of its independence, was a relatively safe choice for Charles’s first Commonwealth trip. It has a warmer relationship with the United Kingdom than do some other former colonies.
Nonetheless, Britain, like other former colonial powers, is in a period of reckoning, and the king has been under pressure to address the legacy of decades of British rule in East Africa.
British-Kenyan relations at the “official level are very good,” said Nicholas Westcott, a professor of diplomacy at SOAS University of London and former director of the Royal African Society, but “that’s not to say there’s not some difficult issues that go back to the colonial period.”
The front cover of a weekly magazine in the Daily Nation, Kenya’s most popular newspaper, carried a picture of Charles with the headline: “The Dark Past.”
There have been calls for Charles to acknowledge, in particular, the violent suppression carried out by British authorities in Kenya during the early reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. In the 1950s, British officials responded to what was known as the Mau Mau revolt — a movement to reclaim land and independence — with a brutal crackdown on the broader population. Thousands were killed and significant numbers imprisoned and tortured, including Hussein Onyango Obama, former president Barack Obama’s grandfather. His family has said that he was beaten by his British captors, who would “squeeze his testicles with metal rods.”
In 2013, Britain expressed its “sincere regret” for human rights abuses during that time. A British court also awarded more than 5,000 Kenyans a payout of approximately $24 million.
As a constitutional monarch, Charles takes his cues from the British government and would not be expected to go beyond what the government has said. At the same time, as a new king, he seems to want to convey that he is personally sensitive to the issue.
“Drafting royal speeches requires a deft hand and delicate ear,” Westcott said.
During the state banquet on Tuesday evening, Charles told assembled guests, “We must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship. The wrongdoings of the past are the cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.”
But some Kenyans said this trip would be the perfect moment for Charles to go beyond statements of regret.
“We need a national apology for the atrocities meted to the African Black people in Kenya,” said Evelyn Kimathi, the daughter of a renowned field marshal who fought the British colonial authorities in the 1950s. Her father, Dedan Kimathi, was hanged by the British in 1957, the family says, but they don’t know what happened to his body and have been trying to find his grave.
Another point of contention: Kenya’s Pokomo people have reiterated their calls for the return of a drum, the ngadji, the source of power and pride for their distinct ethnic group. It has resided in the British Museum for more than a century.
During his four-day visit, Charles will spend time in Nairobi, the capital, and in Mombasa, a coastal city. The British royals will visit a new museum dedicated to Kenya’s history. As he has on previous state visits, Charles will carve out time to take part in events that highlight his interest in the environment, including meeting with the activist Wanjira Mathai and visiting an urban farm.
But it will be his comments on the atrocities of the past that will be watched most closely.