On Saturday, July 1, the Netherlands’ King Willem-Alexander made a rare royal apology for the country’s involvement in slavery, saying he was “personally and intensely” impacted, glamsquad reports
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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte officially apologised on behalf of the government in December 2022.
Since the Black Lives Matter movement took over political conversations in 2020, the Netherlands has opened up about its colonial and slave trading past, which helped it become one of the world’s wealthiest countries.
A Dutch research published in June concluded that the royal family gained 545 million euros ($595 million) in today’s figures from the colonies, where slavery was common, between 1675 and 1770.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch sponsored their “Golden Age” of empire and culture by sending 600,000 Africans as slaves, principally to South America and the Caribbean.
On Saturday, hundreds of descendants of slaves from Suriname and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao gathered in Amsterdam for “Keti Koti” (“breaking the chains” in Surinamese) celebrations to mark 150 years since slavery was abolished.
“Today, I stand in front of you as your king and as a member of the government.” Today, I’m sorry personally,” Willem-Alexander stated amid applause from the audience.
“I am experiencing this intensely with my heart and soul,” the monarch told those in attendance.
“Slavery and slave trading are recognised as crimes against humanity,” the king remarked.
“The monarchs and rulers of the House of Orange did nothing to stop it.”
“Today, on this day when we commemorate slavery in the Netherlands, I am asking for forgiveness for the crystal-clear lack of action,” Willem-Alexander said in his speech, which was carried live on television.
The present king’s distant ancestors, Willem III, Willem IV, and Willem V, were among the biggest beneficiaries of the Dutch state’s “deliberate, structural, and long-term involvement” in slavery, according to the research.