When the Queen visited Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 1985, she was greeted with jamborees, the Prime Minister presented her with a commemorative gold coin, and residents lined the streets, waving flags.
During a trip to the Caribbean island nation on Saturday, her son and daughter-in-law were greeted a little colder.
After the arrival of the red carpet in the capital Kingstown, a steel band playing One Love by Bob Marley, the Earl and Countess of Wessex faced protesters calling for reparations for the slave trade.
Idesha Jackson, 47, was among a crowd of about 20 people in the farming village of Diamond, where Prince Edward had traveled to watch athletes train for the British Community Games.
She said she was there to show her “disgust and disappointment” at those who “had to endure the whip of the slave master for over 400 years”.
“This mistake was made against one sector of the human race by another and this mistake must be compensated,” Jackson said.
Theo Thomas, 69, who went to the Lowman Hill community protest across the country, criticized his government for allowing the visit.
“It is a shame that the so-called progressive government will use our people as props to entertain members of the royal family, and there has been no talk of reparations,” he said.
Jomo Thomas, former chairman of the National Reparations Committee of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was also among the protesters. He called for reparations from Britain.
“They persecuted us, kidnapped us, stole us, treated us. “They owe us and now they have to pay us,” he said. The protests are the latest controversy to hamper recent royal visits to the area.
Prince Edward presents medals to the T10 cricket team at the Montreal Gardens Bloomers on Arnos Vale Playing Field. Photo: Stuart C Wilson / Getty Images
Last month, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge clashed with demonstrations in Jamaica and the Bahamas.
And last week, Prince Edward and Sophie’s visit to Grenada was abruptly canceled. Grenada’s Reparations Commission for Slavery has asked to meet with the couple.
The next stage of the Wessex tour will take them to Antigua and Barbuda, where things may become even more uneven. The chairman of the local reparations support commission, Dorbrene O’Marde, warned that more protests were likely.
Protesters in Kingstown congratulate the royal couple. Photo: Kenton X Chance / I-Witness News
In an open letter, the commission accused the royal family and the British government of coming to the Caribbean to complain that slavery was a “horrific atrocity”, that it was “disgusting”, that “it should not have happened”.
“We hear the false sacrilege of those before you that these crimes are a stain on your history,” the letter said. “For us, they are a source of genocide and continuing deep international injuries, injustice and racism. We hope you will respect us by not repeating the mantra. We are not nonsense. “
In the United Kingdom, the National Council of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has called on royalty to rethink future visits to the Caribbean.
“We as a community believe that the royal family and Buckingham Palace need to rethink the future of royal tours after previous visits, given their involvement in the treatment of people of color,” a spokesman said. “Feelings have been very strong since the last visit to the Caribbean. What has changed? “
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