Charles seemed unimpressed by the commotion—though he did get around the eggs splashing on the sidewalk—and continued to chat with city leaders as he strolled down the street. He and Camilla were in the northern city to unveil a statue of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The role of Britain – and the British royal family – in the slave trade has become increasingly critical in some of the countries where the British monarch is still head of state. When Prince William and his wife Catherine toured the Caribbean earlier this year, activists called on the monarchy to apologize and support reparations for slavery.
Charles is apparently willing to go into the subject. During a visit to Leeds on Tuesday, he met artists who had taken part in a project exploring Britain’s role in slavery. Afterward, Fiona Compton, an artist and historian whose father was the prime minister of St. Lucia, told reporters that Charles “says he’s ready to talk about it.”
The new king has only been in office for two months, but Wednesday was not the first time he was faced with protests.
In the days following the Queen’s death, several people were detained for organizing demonstrations. A woman was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the Queen lay at rest, for holding a sign with an expletive and the words ‘Abolition of the Monarchy’. Another was arrested for shouting “who chose him” while a document formally proclaiming Charles king was read aloud in Oxford, England. The police response sparked a debate over freedom of speech in Britain.
Wednesday wasn’t the first royal egg-throwing incident, either.
During the Queen’s royal tour of New Zealand in 1986, she was beaten with an egg thrown by a woman protesting Britain’s treaty with the Maori tribes. The queen was in an open car and the egg trickled down her pink coat.
Wednesday’s egg roll coincided with the release of the fifth series of “The Crown” on Netflix. The timing is tricky for Charles, who is still in the early days of his reign. This series focuses on the 1990s and returns to the breakup of his marriage to Princess Diana.
