King Charles III commenced the second day of his trip to Kenya on Wednesday after acknowledging that there was “no excuse” for colonial-era abuses during Britain’s rule of the East African country.
King Charles has previously made three official visits to Kenya, but this is his first tour of an African and Commonwealth nation since becoming king last year upon the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
During the four-day state visit with Queen Camilla, King Charles expressed his genuine understanding of the past and mentioned efforts on his part to bolster a modern partnership of equals facing today’s challenges.
This occurred following calls for Charles to formally apologize to the country Britain violently ruled for decades before its hard-fought independence in 1963.
On his first day in Kenya, the 74-year-old British head of state said that the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret, but stopped short of an apology.
“There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged… a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty. And for that, there can be no excuse,” he told a state banquet on Tuesday evening.
“None of this can change the past but by addressing our history with honesty and openness, we can perhaps demonstrate the strength of our friendship today, and in so doing, we can I hope continue to build an ever-closer bond for the years ahead.”
He also delivered a strong acknowledgement of the pains the country went through during colonization as the most painful times of the long and complex relationship between Britain and Kenya.
He ended this heartfelt speech by reiterating that the friendship between Britain and Kenya could be strengthened by addressing the history of both countries with honesty and openness.
