'No excuse' for 'abhorrent violence' of colonialism, King says in moving speech
The King has expressed his “greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” at the devastating consequences of British colonial rule on the first day of his historic state visit to Kenya.
The monarch delivered an impassioned speech to his hosts at a lavish state banquet in honour alongside the Queen, laced with traditional greetings and a tribute to his late mother. Although stopping short of an apology for the appalling deaths of local people during the Mau Mau revolt in the 1950s, which some activists had called for, Charles acknowledged the wrongs committed before Kenya’s independence in 1963.
The Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya began in 1952 and lasted for about eight years. Official figures stand at about 11,000, but many more thousands are believed to have perished including allegations of 11 Africans beaten to death in a British camp.
He called the colonial violence a source of 'deepest regret' (Samir Hussein /WireImage)
The King and Queen are on the first day of their state visit (PA)The King said: “It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together. However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship.
“The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty – and for that, there can be no excuse.
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“In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected.”
The King delivering his banquet speech (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Drawing the attention of his audience, Charles quoted anti-colonial activist Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first Prime Minister, often described as the “Father of the Nation”. He added: “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. As Jomo Kenyatta said, ‘Our children may learn about the heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves the architects of the future’.”
Charles also paid tribute on Tuesday to the late Queen, who learned of her father’s death and ascended the throne in 1952 while in Kenya. He said: “It is well known, I think, that my dear Mother, The late Queen, had a particular affection for Kenya and the Kenyan people. She arrived here in 1952 a Princess, but left as Queen.
“It is extremely moving to read her diary from that visit, in which she wrote that she did not want to miss a moment of Kenya’s extraordinary landscapes. I really cannot thank you enough for the support Kenya gave her through that difficult time.”
The King at Tuesday's banquet (Getty Images)Charles also referenced his further family ties to the country, in particular the place where his son Prince William “nearly fifty years later it was here, in sight of Mount Kenya, that my son, The Prince of Wales, proposed to his wife, now my beloved daughter-in-law”, the Princess of Wales.
At a ceremonial welcome earlier in the day at the capital’s State House, the couple were greeted Republic’s President Dr William Ruto and the First Lady Rachel before Charles conducted a royal salute with the Kenya Defence Force band playing the UK and Kenyan national anthems. Charles and Camilla were told how a fig tree planted to mark the moment Kenyan independence was declared was considered a shrine and a “memory” of the country’s turbulent history.
Mr Ruto labelled the King a “veteran visionary but hit back at the “monstrous” British colonial rule that had scared his country. Calling for reparations to his nation, a claim that has been echoed across the Caribbean in recent years in response to the royal family’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, Mr Ruto told the banquet: “If colonialism was brutal and atrocious to African people, colonial reaction to African struggles for sovereignty and self-rule was monstrous in its cruelty.
“It culminated in the Emergency, which intensified the worst excesses of colonial impunity and the indiscriminate victimisation of Africans. While there have been efforts to atone for the death, injury and suffering inflicted on Kenyan Africans by the colonial government, much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations.”
King Charles III and Queen Camilla with President of Kenya Dr William Ruto and the First Lady Rachel Ruto (PA)The President closed his speech by wishing the King and Queen “long life and good health”, but parted with the plea that Charles’ reign “inspire many to do their part in making our nations more prosperous and our planet more livable for humanity and all forms of life which share it with us.”
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Earlier on Tuesday the royals were pictured on a visit to Nairobi’s Uhuru Gardens - meaning “freedom” in Swahili, the King unveiled a plaque and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The couple then viewed the Mũgomo Tree, planted on December 12, 1964 to commemorate the day Kenya was declared independent. It marks the spot where the Union flag was lowered and the Kenyan flag raised for the first time.
In his speech on Tuesday evening, Charles said: “It seemed to me that the tree is thriving – strong and deeply-rooted, just as this great Republic and her people continue to thrive.” The royals then commemorated their visit by planting two African fern trees, known as Afrocarpus gracilior, in the grounds.
Later in the day, Charles, 74 and Camilla, 76, were given a sneak preview of the Mashujaa Museum, which is due to open to the public early next year, shortly after Kenya celebrates its 60th anniversary of independence on December 12. It tells the national story and contains a Tunnel of Martyrs, which the royal couple walked down, stopping at each panel to view descriptions of the independence struggle and those who fell fighting for it.
The King walks past a guard of honour during the Ceremonial Welcome at Nairobi's State House (Getty Images)The tunnel also has panels dedicated to those killed in Islamist violence since independence, including the 67 people killed when an Al Shabaab gunmen ran amok in the Westgate Mall shopping centre in Nairobi in 2013. Schoolchildren explained each demonstration board inside the museum. Camilla inspected one panel describing the different ethnic make-up of Kenya’s people and one boy began to teach her a few words in Swahili.
Neil Wigan, the UK High Commissioner to Nairobi, said: “Every Kenyan I’ve talked to from the president downwards has just been delighted about the royal visit, and really pleased that the first Commonwealth trip that the King is doing he has chosen to do it to Kenya. They feel a really close link with the royal family, through the [late] Queen, through to the King.
“Most people are focused on that, they talk about what they would like to get out of Britain today. They value that relationship with Britain.” The King and Queen will continue in Nairobi on Wednesday before heading to Mombasa for two days of engagements, exploring themes around climate change, domestic violence and the military in the region.
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