ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) – The Grenada National Reparations Committee (GNRC) said Thursday that despite the public announcement that the Earl and Countess of Wessex will no longer visit the island as planned, it is yet to receive a response from Governor-General Dame Cecile La Grenade, to their request seeking an audience with the Royals.

But it is insisting that “the time has come for the British government and the descendants of British elites who benefited from slavery to own up to the heinous crime against humanity—and do the right thing.”

The GNRC said it sent correspondence to Dame Cecile more than a week ago, seeking an audience with Prince Edward and Sophie who were scheduled to visit Grenada next Tuesday as part of their six-day Queen’s Platinum Jubilee tour of the Caribbean, starting Friday.

However, it was confirmed earlier on Thursday that Grenada had been removed from the itinerary, while visits to St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda would go ahead as planned.

No reason was given for the decision to scrap the Grenada leg of the tour, but Buckingham Palace said it came after consultation with the government of the Eastern Caribbean island, and on the advice of the Governor-General who is the Queen’s representative on the island.

In its letter to the Governor-General, signed by GNRC chairman, Arley Gill, who also is Grenada’s Caribbean Community (Caricom) Ambassador, the committee said it “would like to engage the Royal couple for a meeting to outline the reasons as to why Great Britain should be held accountable for the crimes against humanity that occurred against the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, and against the Africans during the slave trade and slavery and the wanton exploitation of the Caribbean islands during colonization’’.

“We will welcome the opportunity to provide them with some literature on the topic, inclusive of the Caricom 10-point plan and the recently published book by Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, ‘How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty’,” added the GNRC which stated that it has a mandate “to advocate for the attainment of reparatory justice”.

The committee said it is yet to receive a response.

However, with fresh details recently emerging regarding Britain’s role in the enslavement of Black people in Grenada, the GNRC is adamant that reparations are due.

The results of an investigation into the Bank of England recently revealed that the financial institution, which has been owned and controlled by the British government since 1946, owned two plantations in Grenada in the 1770s where almost 600 Africans were enslaved.

The GNRC last week issued a statement saying it was “appalled but not surprised” by the revelation.

On Thursday, the committee said: “Since the bank has been owned by Her Majesty’s government since 1946 and they exploited enslaved Africans and profited from free plantation labour, and exploited profits from the land and labour, it’s a conversation long overdue that we need to have with the Queen of England.”

“The exploitation of Grenada as a colony of Great Britain and its institutions should intensify our urgent call-to-action to every Grenadian to join the fight for reparations and reparatory justice for the descendants of enslaved people here in Grenada.”

In addition to seeking a meeting with the Royal couple, the GNRC was reportedly mobilising to stage a public protest during their visit.

A Caribbean visit last month by Prince William and his wife Kate was met with protests in Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, as citizens there called for reparations.