Ancestors of King Charles III owned slave plantations

New research shared with The Guardian indicates that ancestors of King Charles III bought and exploited enslaved individuals on tobacco plantations in Virginia. The documents establish a direct link between the Windsor family tree and the trafficking of enslaved Africans. A researcher named Desirée Baptiste discovered the documents while investigating links between the Church of England and enslavers in Virginia for a play she was writing. The revelation follows the Guardian’s publication of a document earlier this month that linked the slave trader Edward Colston to the British monarchy. The Royal African Company (RAC) granted almost 180,000 enslaved individuals, and senior RAC officials, describing themselves as “your loving friends”, instructed the captain of a ship to deliver “negroes” to Edward Porteus, a tobacco plantation owner in Virginia, and two other men.