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That won’t be the case this time. There has been a steady stream of negative headlines coming from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to the Caribbean and they drowned out the more positive coverage that was undoubtedly there, too.
It’s not that William and Kate did anything different this time round. Their trip still had all the hallmarks of a traditional royal visit: dancing, sporting events with a national hero, glamorous dinners and speeches. But what does appear to have changed is the tone around these trips, and they may need to adapt to that if the “triumphant” tour headlines are to return.
CNN wasn’t on this tour, but we have traveled extensively with the family. There are always republican and anti-monarchy demonstrations, which the royals don’t generally have a problem with, in our experience.
The family believe in self-determination, so if a country wants to replace the Queen with its own elected president as head of state then they will support that, as demonstrated by Prince Charles, who attended and endorsed the swearing-in of the new President of Barbados last year.
But over the past couple of years, those demonstrations have shifted. They are still about breaking ties with the monarchy, but it’s not just about independence and the future. It’s also about coming to terms with the past, and in many Commonwealth realms, that’s about the slave trade and Britain’s role in it. Many in these former British colonies also want an apology and reparations.
The royal family’s links to slavery date back to the 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I provided slave merchant John Hawkins with her own vessel “specifically for the purpose of capturing Africans on the West African coast,” according to an article in the UK’s national archives. Subsequent members of the royal family invested heavily in the slave trade. Many of the grand stately homes in Britain today were built on the profits of slavery and colonial exploitation.
The duke addressed the topic, discussing…
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Source : cnn
