Some humble advice to King Charles: say sorry for slavery (2024)

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Welcome back, Your Majesty.

One trusts the arduous journey to your most far-flung colony was comfortable. Jolly long way for a chap to travel for another round of sausage sizzles, lamington tastings and ceremonial military parades, particularly given your recent health problems.

There is, however, a pressing issue one is forced to raise with, and humbly proffer advice to, Your Majesty, King Charles. It is a distasteful subject, leaving one hesitant to bring it to your attention. But this being a new era for the monarchy, with promises of greater transparency and whatnot, it is a matter of urgency.

The English writer George Orwell, no fan of the British aristocracy, said England "resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family ... it has rich relations that have to be kowtowed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income".

Money. The nub of so many problems. Your Majesty is surely aware of the hostile mutterings now emerging about the origins of the royal fortune and how much of it was made in the slave trade.

Your heir, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, has echoed those comments while your other son - the wayward one so many families must endure - has referred to the enrichment of the royal vault by "exploited workers and thuggery, annexation and enslaved people".

Unfortunately, as Your Majesty is undoubtedly aware, such expressions of regret no longer carry the value they once did. The modern era demands bolder acts of contrition. Rabble-rousers are relentless, never satisfied until their targets bend the knee.

So one is forced to humbly ask Your Majesty: why is it taking the royals so long to formally apologise for its centuries-long involvement in slavery?

The Palace has said it supports an archival research project presently probing the monarchy's slavery links. But those findings are not expected until 2026. Need one point to a vast trove of publicly-available documents already proving the crown's lasting ties to the slave trade?

Almost 500 years ago Elizabeth I granted a royal ship to a prominent slave trader in return for a share of the profits. The monarchy sponsored the Royal African Company that transported more African slaves to the Americas than any other institution in history. George II ran a company that carried more than 40,000 slaves on ships in conditions so brutal and putrid at least 7000 died during the voyages.

Later, thousands of slaves were branded with the letters "D.O.Y" to signal they were the property of the Duke of York. In all, the British, with royal backing, are estimated to have shipped more than three million African slaves across the Atlantic.

With the greatest respect, Your Majesty, is it not time to say sorry? Governments around the world and hundreds of wealthy institutions - even the stubborn churches - have publicly apologised for past misdeeds.

Is the fear of paying compensation to the descendants of those enslaved driving the delay? One can imagine the financial blow to the royal coffers. But does that money - immorally gained through such inhumane practices - still deserve to be earning interest?

Many of us lampoon what has been dubbed the modern era's Cult of Apology and its constant practice of judging the past through the prism of today's ethical and moral standards. We even joke that Sir Elton John should apologise for lying, or at least be sued for misleading practice, when he sang how sorry seemed to be the hardest word.

But while we all can - and often do - find offence in the most trivial of things, sometimes saying sorry matters. One need only ask Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who had to say it twice last week, after asking a political opponent if he suffered from Tourette's. At the same time a prominent restaurateur, Al Yazbek, suffered irreparable damage to his business and had to apologise repeatedly for holding a sign displaying a swastika in Jewish colours at a pro-Palestinian rally.

Your Majesty, it is said you prize the frank nature of Australians. So please, make an apology on your ancestors' behalf one of your priorities when you return home after this, your 17th trip here.

Otherwise one must assume, with the greatest of respect, that George Orwell was indeed correct when he also described England as "a family with the wrong members in control".

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the royal family formally apologise for its involvement in the slave trade? Have you met a member of the royals? Are you a supporter of the monarchy? Is it time to reignite the republican debate in Australia? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- The Australian Dental Association is calling for a federally funded scheme for seniors, with some facing waits of up to four years for care.

- Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has been found dead after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

- More businesses are struggling to pay invoices on time, with new data showing late payments have reached their highest levels since early 2021.

THEY SAID IT: "There is no doubt that the centuries of investment in ... the slave trade contributed hugely to building the status, prestige and fortune of today's royal family." - Historian Dr Brooke Newman.

YOU SAID IT: Pity the poor school kids sitting for their final year exams. It's not just the questions that are challenging. After years pecking away on laptops, putting pen to old school paper will also be hard.

Lee writes: "I work in an industry that requires contemporaneous, unchangeable notes, i.e. handwritten. I type my notes as soon as I return to the office just to make sure I can read/remember what was said. Heaven help anyone who has to read my notes five or six years later."

"As a member of the 'older' generation I was taught that good handwriting was essential if you wanted to get a 'good' job," writes Sue. "I like to think my handwriting is still of an acceptable standard to the annoyance of my husband as I don't let him write on my grocery list. His handwriting is atrocious as a result of too much electronic composing. I can't remember a time when he actually wrote something with a pen."

Jan writes: "My primary school supply was a pen with a nib and an inkwell in the desk. Blotting paper was handy. It was important to have the downward letter strokes slightly 'wider' than the upward ones. How proud I was to receive a fountain pen for Christmas, just before I entered high school! Now, some things I write and some I type. I reckon there's a different part of the brain that deals with spelling when typing and spelling when writing. In my collectibles, I have a large Simpson's ink bottle, an old ceramic ink bottle, a school desk and some pens with nibs."

"My teenage employment in the UK in the 1960s involved selling Parker pens and even then I was very impressed by the beautiful handwriting that people would use when trying the pens," writes Roger. "I was given a Parker pen which I brought with me to Oz and occasionally take it out along with the bottle of ink (Quink Royal Blue my preferred drop) but unfortunately my scrawl does neither product credit. Beautiful handwriting of old certainly seems to be a lost art."

Col writes: "Now well into my 70s and after over 60 years around computers and IT, my keyboarding skills are rubbish and I still write notes with a pencil. Works for me."

"It is interesting to look at my own handwriting in my teens and through my 20s and into my 30s as I progressed through challenges in my life," writes Hilary. "From small writing to bold writing reflecting how my personality had changed, something the keyboard could not have exposed. As you also said handwriting a word, especially for me an unfamiliar name, imprints it to memory. One thing you did not mention was writing done with fountain pen compared to ballpoint pens of later years. the former creating a style and command of writing that I remember from my Father. thanks for your (digitally composed) writings, they are always interesting. The Echidna is my first reading of the morning."

Anita writes: "I wonder how many decades it will take before 'essay by keyboard' is the order of the day. I see no necessity for 'wrist stamina' to be the determining factor in success or failure in English essay writing (or any subject requiring this skill). Take notes by hand and enjoy the benefits to your thinking skills, but do the markers a favour and test with type!"

"With osteoarthritis in my writing hand from doing too much handwriting, computers are the most wonderful thing for me," writes Jennifer. "My writing, when not rushed, is still stylish but painful, while many years of writing fast for work and study meant it was not good in those situations. A grandson with dysgraphia (writing disability) benefits hugely from computers which enable him to perform brilliantly at school. Without them he'd be way behind in his learning and unable to complete assessment tasks."

Sue writes: "It will never be as fast as keyboarding, but cursive is much faster than printing, which is where many students get stuck in their writing development. Of course, writing for long periods of time is mainly successful if you have learned to hold a pen/pencil well, a skill many students don't seem to have grasped - pun intended. Sitting a three-hour written exam was never a problem - from the point of view of writing - because there was no tension in my hand while holding the pencil." If you can use chopsticks properly, she says, you can hold a pen the correct way. As for handwriting itself: "I suspect it will become redundant when we can transmit our thoughts directly to an electronic device."

"Having a grin," writes Gaye. "Over 25 years in uniform requiring mountains of report writing out of the office, one quickly learnt how to abbreviate. Explain this.... EAAGANRCCL. Execution attempted at given address no response calling card left. The office typists could decipher an entire page of just letters."

Daniel writes: "Thank you, dear Echidna, for yet again bringing to light another sad indictment on our so called progressively modern world. I spent most of the day yesterday sitting at my loathsome computer, 'smart' phone in hand, talking to a string of well meaning souls at one of the dreaded 'big four'. All I needed was the bank statement for a closed account. This seemingly simple task ended up being a Herculean effort by a good number of bank employees trying to penetrate their computer systems. I thought computers were supposed to make light work for everyone! We have all become the playthings of lazy computer programmers who are too frightened to get up from their desks to talk directly to people. We consequently are all destined to become lazy, unhealthy souls who can no longer put a simple pen to paper! Oh, and that wonderful image of a young boy at school enjoying a Sunnyboy on a hot Adelaide bitumen playground brought back brilliant memories. I think I found a soulmate in you, dearest Echidna!"