Nation planning to ditch King Charles asks him to seek legal advice

The Jamaican government on Monday formally asked King Charles to seek legal advice on whether Britain should pay reparations for ‌slavery, with the country's culture minister saying she is "encouraged" by the engagement of Buckingham Palace so far.

Olivia Grange is leading a Jamaican delegation in London which filed a petition asking Charles to refer three questions about transatlantic slavery to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC).

Jamaica wants the JCPC, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations, to consider whether the transport of enslaved Africans to Jamaica and their enslavement was ever lawful and whether Britain is legally obliged to ⁠provide a reparatory remedy.

Charles – who remains Jamaica's head of state, though the country has taken steps towards removing him from that role – has previously expressed deep sorrow over slavery in a speech to Commonwealth leaders in 2022.

Britain, like other former colonial powers, has so far rejected demands for reparations, though Grange said she saw promise in how Buckingham Palace had helped with the process of filing Jamaica's petition.

"We're not pre-empting the process, but we are encouraged," she told Reuters, shortly before the petition was formally filed.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Charles "has on many occasions expressed his personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and finding ways to address historic wrongs for the benefit of communities today".

Prime Minister Andy Burnham's spokesperson said that "the UK does not and will not pay reparations", while acknowledging ‌that the ⁠transatlantic slave trade was "abhorrent".