Charles III: Britain’s colonial past at the center of the king’s state visit to Kenya

The last state visit of a British monarch to Kenya took place in November 1983 with Elizabeth II. Arriving in the capital Nairobi on Monday evening, Sovereign Charles III and Queen Camilla were received by the Kenyan head of state and his wife at Statue House, the presidential palace.

The four-day visit, which comes ahead of Kenya’s 60th anniversary of independence in December, will be his first as king to a Commonwealth country. It will “underline the strong and dynamic partnership between the United Kingdom and Kenya,” the British embassy said in a statement. But the trip between Charles and Queen Camilla, 76, will also allow them to discuss “the most painful aspects of the shared history of the United Kingdom and Kenya” in the years leading up to independence, Buckingham Palace said.

Between 1952 and 1960, more than 10,000 people were killed in Kenya following the Mau Mau uprising against colonial rule, one of the bloodiest repressions of the British Empire. Thirty-two settlers were also killed. After years of legal battles, London agreed in 2013 to pay compensation to more than 5,000 Kenyans, but some are waiting for the king to issue a formal apology for Britain’s past actions.

“We call on the King, on behalf of the British Government, to make an unconditional and unequivocal public apology for the cruel and inhuman treatment meted out to Kenyan citizens throughout the colonial period” between 1895 and 1963, the Queen recently called for. independent human rights group. The HRC also demanded reparations “for all atrocities committed against various groups in the country”, citing land grabbing in addition to the repression of the Mau Mau.

In addition, King Charles III and Camilla, who will be in the Kenyan capital for two days, are also expected to meet with entrepreneurs, youth or even visit the new museum dedicated to the history of Kenya and lay a wreath of flowers at Kenya’s grave. unknown soldier in the “freedom gardens” (“Uhuru gardens”).

The couple will then travel to the southern port city of Mombasa, where Charles, who is passionate about environmental issues, will visit a nature reserve and meet with religious representatives. Currently, the remnants of the British Empire, comprising 56 countries, most of them former British colonies, are weakened by increasingly harsh criticism of the United Kingdom’s colonial past. Other visits by royals to former colonies have caused a stir. Last year in the Caribbean, Prince William and Kate were called upon to apologize for the United Kingdom’s slave past.