It’s not a secret that a succession of British monarchs enriched the former empire — and themselves personally — off the evils of the transatlantic slave trade.
What’s less obvious — and of interest to today’s highly charged debate over the monarchy’s ties to slavery — is what they knew about the practice, how they felt about participating in it and their level of enthusiasm for it.
Some 360 years ago, did King Charles II regard trafficking in human beings the same as trading in elephant tusks? Did his brother, the future James II, have any moral qualms about running the most notorious slave-trading company
