Dutch historian Camilla de Kooning researches the British royal family’s involvement in slavery. King Charles yesterday expressed his support for such an investigation into the role of the royal family for the first time. The investigation in which de Kooning is involved has been going on for six months and is expected to be completed in 2026.

In her research, De Koning focuses on the period from 1660 to 1775, she says on NPO Radio 1 News & Co. Buckingham Palace says Charles is taking the matter seriously and will allow scholars access to the royal collection and archives. “I can snoop around palaces, and as a true history buff, that’s fascinating,” de Kooning says.

In your first year of research, you will mainly focus on a lot of reading and archival research first. In doing so, it looks at the royal family’s investments, including shares in companies. “It was never considered the role of royalty alone,” she says. “They were mentioned a little bit at times, but there wasn’t much focus.”

Newspaper Watchman Document revealed yesterday showing that Charles’ ancestor King William III owned shares in the Royal African Company in 1689. According to the document, the deputy director of that slave trading company transferred shares worth a thousand pounds to the then king that year. Responding in part to this article, Charles said he supports an investigation into the royal family.

a company It was founded in 1660. This is also why the Dutch researcher chose that year as the starting point. According to them, it is comparable to the Dutch WIC. Royal African “was co-founded by the king and his brother, so you can already see they’re very involved.”

Between 1660 and 1775 there were eight kings. Already in the first months of her research, King had discovered that Queen Anne, who had been king between 1702 and 1714, had been contracted to deliver enslaved people to Spanish America.

“I took this job and gave it to a British company,” says de Kooning. “That in itself is an interesting political and diplomatic game, but then it also buys a 25 percent stake in that company.”

King Charles had previously said he wanted to fight British slavery “with strength and determination”. While visiting Ghana in 2018, he described the slave trade as “a horrific brutality that left an indelible stain” but never acknowledged royal involvement.