By Kate Chappell and Brian Ellsworth for Reuters
Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday as part of a week-long Caribbean tour, hours after activists protested for repairs to slavery, as part of a growing study of the British Empire’s colonial heritage.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in the capital for a three-day stop on the island, part of a larger royal family’s trip to the Caribbean in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Photo: AFP or licensor
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Belize on Saturday to begin the tour, which marks the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s throne, and will conclude the weekend with a visit to the Bahamas.
They were picked up by Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith and Defense Forces Chief Antonette Wemyss Gorman at Kingston’s Norman Manley airport. They then proceeded to meet with Governor General Patrick Allen, who represents the British Crown in Jamaica.
Earlier, dozens of people gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding banners with the phrase “seh yuh sorry” – a local Patois phrase urging Britain to apologize.
“There are historic mistakes and they need to be addressed,” said Dr. Rosalea Hamilton, an economist and activist who helped organize the rally, where protesters read 60 Reasons for Repairs. Jamaica celebrates 60 years of independence in August.
“Part of the conversation is how we start a new dispensation and (discussion) of actions for the new generation,” said Hamilton, dressed in a T-shirt printed with the phrase “seh yuh sorry.”
People demanding slave reparations protest against the entry of the British High Commission during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Kingston, Jamaica on 22 March 2022.
Photo: AFP or licensor
The royal visits to the Caribbean nations are seen as an effort to persuade other former British colonies – including Belize and the Bahamas – to remain the “riches” of the British monarchy in the face of a rising regional movement toward Republicanism.
‘What are they doing for Jamaica?’
Dance Hall singer Beenie Man in an interview with Good morning UK questioned the royal visit and expressed skepticism about the Queen, saying “What are they doing for Jamaica? They are not doing anything for us.”
A Jamaican judge, Hugh Small, burned his ceremonial British justice wig this month in a symbolic protest over the fact that a London-based tribunal called the Privy Council continues to be Jamaica’s highest court.
William and Kate are set to take part in a “sports activity” and “cultural activity” on Tuesday as part of a tour that concludes on Thursday, according to a preliminary Reuters agenda.
The couple had to change their itinerary in Belize after a protest by several dozen indigenous villages upset that the couple’s helicopter had been allowed to land on a football field without prior consultation.
Marlene Malahoo Forte, who was Jamaica’s attorney general until January, told the local newspaper in December Jamaica Observer that she had been instructed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to reform the Constitution to become a republic.
That process would require a referendum, per Jamaica’s constitution, which would make it more complicated than in little Barbados – which could be changed by an act of Parliament.
The government last year announced plans to ask Britain for compensation for forced transport of an estimated 600,000 Africans to work on sugar cane and banana plantations, which created assets for British slaveholders.
Jamaican lawmaker Mike Henry has proposed a £ 7.6 billion (US $ 10 billion) repair package.
He said the figure was derived from a £ 20 million payment made by the British government in 1837 to compensate slave owners in the British colonies for the emancipation of enslaved people following the abolition of slavery in 1833.
– Reuters
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