King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has made a historic apology for the Netherlands’s role in slavery. The King was accompanied by his wife, Queen Máxima.
Speaking at an event marking the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, he said that the royal family did nothing to stop the trafficking of more than 600,000 people.
He said, “Today, I stand before you. Today, as your King and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul. But for me, there is another personal dimension.
“Slavery and the slave trade are recognised as a crime against humanity. And the Stadholders and Kings of the House of Orange-Nassau did nothing to stop it.
“They acted in accordance with laws which at the time were considered acceptable. But the system of slavery illustrated the injustice of those laws.
“As the Second World War highlighted more recently, you cannot hide behind laws when your fellow human beings are reduced to animals and subjected to the whims of those in power.”
Just late month, a new study revealed that the Dutch rulers received the equivalent of €545m between 1675 and 1770 from colonies where slavery was enforced.
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