King Charles's ancestors abetted the slave trade, and research aims to show what they knew

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 in the world?

The early answers to both questions, gleaned by examining just a single document, seem "yes" to the first and "no" to the second — and there are collections and libraries filled with hundreds, even thousands, of documents still needing to be pored over.

CBC News recently visited Britain's National Archives, where University of Manchester PhD student Camilla de Koning carefully opened and scrutinized the faded, yellow pages of the charter of the Royal African Company.

"What I strive for is that [the research] is about the Royal Family as individuals. It's about their personal thoughts, their personal choices and ideas," said de Koning, 28, who is working under the supervision of Edmond Smith, an associate professor at the university.

Most remarkably, King Charles himself has given explicit support for her research.

Britain's coronation week, which saw the crowning of King Charles III on Saturday, has focused attention not just on the monarchy's future but on its past. The issue of British kings and queens and their connection to slavery has made for some uncomfortable moments.

There have been repeated calls from African and Caribbean nations for apologies and reparations, and a group of former British slave-trading families is demanding that the British government atone for its historical role transporting more than three million African slaves across the Atlantic Ocean.

King Charles has spoken frequently and emotively about his abhorrence of the slave trade, including during a visit to Ghana in 2018, when he spoke of the "appalling atrocity of slavery."

He went further last month by openly supporting de Koning's research work, offering access to the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives.

"I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of many, as I continue to deepen my understanding of slavery's enduring impact," said a statement from Buckingham Palace that quoted the King from a speech he gave in Rwanda last year.

"It is kind of daunting. I mean, all of a sudden, I was in the national news connected to King Charles," de Koning said.

The Royal African Company shipped nearly 200,000 slaves from Africa across the Atlantic to colonies in North, Central and South America over a 60-year period.