A new historical discovery has intensified calls for the British monarchy to address its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Recent research reveals that King George IV personally
profited from enslaved labor on plantations in Grenada during the early 19th century.
Independent historian Desirée Baptiste found a document from 1823–24 in the UK’s National Archives showing a payment of £1,000 (equivalent to about £103,000 today) from two royal estates in Grenada. These estates were worked by hundreds of enslaved people during the 18th and 19th centuries. The money went directly into King George IV’s private funds, reportedly supporting his extravagant lifestyle.
Baptiste, who is of Grenadian heritage and focuses her research on colonialism and slavery, shared her findings with Reuters. Her work has been verified by Professor Edmond Smith of the University of Manchester and Dr. Nick Draper, the founder of University College London’s *Legacies of British Slave-ownership* project.
Professor Smith, who is overseeing a PhD on the monarchy’s role in slavery, noted that this payment “might well just be the tip of the iceberg” as further research continues to uncover the monarchy’s financial gains from slavery.
Buckingham Palace has not yet responded to the findings.
This discovery comes as part of a broader investigation supported by King Charles, following a 2023 *Guardian* report showing that King William III held shares in the Royal African Company in 1689. The company was responsible for trafficking thousands of enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Smith said the new evidence aligns with long-standing patterns of colonial exploitation by the royal family, including efforts to generate revenue from Caribbean colonies.
While King Charles has expressed sorrow over slavery—most notably during a 2022 speech to Commonwealth leaders—no British monarch has publicly admitted that the Crown directly owned and profited from enslaved people in the Caribbean.
Baptiste’s work, titled “Slaves the Property of His Majesty: George IV and Grenada”, comes at a time of increasing global calls for reparations, particularly across the Caribbean and Africa. Still, many European leaders have resisted engaging seriously with the issue. Photo by Arnaud Bouissou, Wikimedia commons.