Take a closer look at this letter. It’s a set of instructions on paperwork from a British crown-backed enterprise called the South Sea Company, which trafficked thousands of enslaved African people to plantations in the 1700s.
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On the side you can see a logo bearing the royal crown, a symbol of the British monarchy’s role in the trade. It was seared with hot metal on the skin of enslaved African people trafficked by the company.

The kings and queens who powered the trafficking most ferociously were those after the monarchy was restored in 1660. James, Duke of York, who became King James II, was the governor and a substantial shareholder in the Royal African Company (RAC), founded in 1672, which trafficked more African men, women and children than any other single organisation in the history of the slave trade.

In response to the Guardian’s reporting of the new research relating to the monarchy, a spokesperson for King Charles said he was “grateful to all those undertaking academic work in this area and thus contributing to the debate about how such issues might best be addressed”.

The Register of British Slave Traders is the most comprehensive research project into the investors in Britain’s trafficking of enslaved African people. Its publication will further inform calls for the king to finally acknowledge the monarchy’s deep involvement in the trade.
Watch this explainer with reporter Morgan Ofori to understand more – and to read our new series ‘Enslaving Nation’ laying bare Britain’s slave-trading past, tap the link ► https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/14/royal-crown-branded-africans-britain-monarchy-slave-trade-trafficking

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