When the Duke of Sussex steps into San Basilio de Palenque on Saturday, he will do so as both the son of a King and a man who left the British monarchy behind.
He has decried the “unjust” system that saw “enslaved people” generate wealth for the Crown, but around the world remains seen as a member of the Royal family.
The visit to a town founded by escaped slaves in the colonial era and now a symbol of their resistance is, in other words, complicated.
The tourist destination is set to be a highlight of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s trip to Colombia, which has seen them hosted by a passionately anti-colonial vice-president who is leading calls for slavery reparations.
For some, inevitably, it raises questions.
Will the couple use their day of learning about Afro-Colombian revolutionary history to touch on the obvious topics of slavery, colonialism, and Britain’s former role in it? Will the Duchess speak of her own family history, as she did in their last visit to Nigeria? And will Prince Harry fulfil the dreams of campaigners by outrightly condemning or apologising for the role of royals centuries ago?
The visit, campaigners say, is the ideal chance for the Duke and Duchess to venture further than they ever have before in decrying the evils of the colonial slave trade, whether part of the Spanish Empire as it was in Colombia or the British elsewhere.
They are, it is thought by some, “uniquely positioned” to move the conversation about reparations forward.
Laura Trevelyan, whose own family has made an apology and reparations for its historic role in the slave trade, said: “Because they’re not working royals, they have a bit of cover, but they are still hugely influential.
“Even by meeting Colombia’s vice-president, Harry and Meghan are signalling that they’re prepared to hear more about the debate over how to repair the lasting legacies of slavery.
“I hope they use their influential position to move the discussion forward.”
Arley Gill, chairman ofGrenada’s National Reparations Commission, urged Prince Harry to use the opportunity to apologise and support “reparative justice”.
“If he does that, he will be on the right side of history,” he said. “It would mean a whole lot.”
After all, he joked, he was already “ostracised” from the Royal family and “can’t leave twice!”.
Any intervention by the Sussexes would be viewed as deeply provocative by their critics, adding to the pressure the UK Government and the palace is already facing from reparations campaigners.
Francia Marquez, Colombia’s vice-president who invited Prince Harry and the Duchess after watching their Netflix documentary, is one of the world’s leading voices in the call for reparations, setting up a national commission to “repair the historical debt owed”.
Such is the strength of Ms Marquez’s reputation that her Right-wing opponents have this week poked fun at her visible delight at hosting the Duke and Duchess.
Andres Escobar, a Cali-based councillor for the conservative Democratic Centre party, said on X, formerly Twitter: “I thought she was going to receive them with sermons and her usual speech about historical and ancestral debt…That’s the size of her incoherence.”
Miguel Polo Polo, a Colombian MP, said: “Francia Marquez, the ‘anti-racist’, ‘anti-imperialist’ and ‘anti-colonialist’ in a photo with the world elite (one of them descended from the British crown), one of the most colonialist and enslaving empires that has existed.
“She’s spent so many years criticising colonialism and see her here, smiling.
“That’s the Left for you, hypocritical.”
The Sussexes were welcomed to the country by Ms Marquez on Thursday, spent the day with her, and had a private lunch on Friday.
Royal visits to the nearby Caribbean have been overshadowed in the last few years by ever-growing calls for a full apology from the British monarchy for its role in the slave trade.
The Prince and Princess of Wales’ Caribbean trip was beset with accusations that some engagements appeared colonialist and Andrew Holness, the Jamaican prime minister, took the opportunity to announce that the country was “moving on” to become a republic.
The Sussexes visited Jamaica earlier this year for a film premiere.
In 2016, when Harry visited Antigua and Barbuda, a Guardian newspaper article urged: “Prince Harry, show us how woke you are, and atone for the royals’ institutional role in slavery.”
Since then, the Duke of Sussex has left the working Royal family, with his documentary series including criticism of the Commonwealth, which called it “Empire 2.0”.
In his memoir Spare, he wrote of royal finances: “Does the Crown generate tourism income that benefits all? Of course.
“Does it also rest upon lands obtained and secured when the system was unjust and wealth was generated by exploited workers and thuggery, annexation and enslaved people?
“Can anyone deny it?”
‘Personal sorrow at suffering’
Prince Harry’s father, the King, has visited a former slave port in Ghana and spoken several times about the evils of the trade. In Rwanda two years ago, he said he “cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many”.
But in line with the British Government, the monarchy has stopped short of a full institutional apology, which is thought to amount to an admission of guilt that could open the country up to legal action.
If Prince Harry apologised for any way he has inadvertently benefited from the slave trade, one source wondered, would he now be morally if not legally obliged to offer a gesture of reparation of his own?
The Sussexes’ office did not comment on how the couple would be approaching the topic while in Colombia, if at all.
Ms Trevelyan, who is honorary fellow at The University of the West Indies’ PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean advocacy, said she saw reparations not as political but as a “moral question”.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are uniquely placed during their visit to Colombia to raise the issue of the lasting impact of the transatlantic slave trade and to ask how we can atone for the sins of the past,” she told the Telegraph.
“In his memoir Spare, Harry acknowledged that the Royal family’s wealth was partly derived from slavery. He and Meghan are committed to social justice causes.”
She added that while the King said he was seeking to deepen his understanding, “his son can provide a lead”.
A political source in Colombia said that while the vice-president invited the couple, the Sussexes paid for the trip with “an economic support by international cooperation”, but did not elaborate on which organisations.