The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas – Royal Profit and the Roots of Racial Injustice

by Brooke N. Newman

For centuries, Britain has told itself and the world that it is an abolitionist nation, one that, unlike the United States, rejected human bondage and dismantled its Atlantic slave empire without tearing itself apart in violence. An abolitionist nation headed by a just, humane monarch who liberated enslaved Africans and recognized their descendants as free and equal subjects of the British Crown. As Prince William put it recently, “We’re very much not a racist family.” When slaveholding nations write their collective history, the enslavers hold the pen.

Now, acclaimed historian Brooke Newman reveals the true story: the enslavers were supported by members of the royal family. From the 1560s to 1807, the British monarchy invested in the transatlantic slave trade and built a slave empire in colonial America and the Caribbean, with the labor of millions of enslaved Africans who would see none of its riches. It profited from African slave trading and hereditary bondage, setting the stage for other colonial powers to develop brutal slave systems that remained legal long after full emancipation in the British Empire in 1838. The scars of this history remain visible the world over, from economic inequality and educational and health disparities to racial discrimination and prejudice. Still, Crown officials continue to insist the legacies of slavery “belong to the past.”

Newman focuses not on portraits of British monarchs but on their actions and investments that led to the rise and fall of the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery, and on some of the people whose lives it took, placing the struggles and sacrifices of innumerable individuals of African origin and ancestry at the center of Britain’s story.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Politics, Audiobook

464 pages, Hardcover

Published January 27, 2026

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

I am always looking for a great non-fiction book to read and am glad to have come across this book. Although there were some details that I knew just from reading other history books, this isn't a topic I had ever researched. There is so much information here, yet the book is so well written that it is so interesting. I especially loved all of the paintings included. I hate when non-fiction books don't include a single photo or put them all at the end of the book.

It was interesting reading about the boycotts that put pressure on the Crown and Parliament to stop the slave-trade. All they cared about was making money, so they didn't care until the boycotts starting hurting their pocketbooks. They don't want us to think we have any power, but we do. Just like that Disney boycott showed everyone.

Definitely would recommend this book to anyone looking for their next book.

[Cheyenne Betancourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and eye-opening work of history that manages to be both deeply researched and genuinely engaging. Brooke Newman brings impressive depth to her research, drawing on extensive archival evidence to explore the role of the British royal family in the development of Atlantic slavery. The argument unfolds clearly and persuasively, challenging familiar narratives while still being very readable.

What makes the book especially compelling is how it balances institutional history with human impact. Newman keeps the lasting consequences of this history in view, connecting the past to ongoing conversations in Britain, the United States, and beyond. If there’s one drawback, it’s that the book can feel a bit long at times, but overall it’s still a powerful, important, and highly recommended read.

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers for allowing me an ARC to read and review.

[AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overwhelming.

We hear stories of slavery in bits and pieces. Whether it’s the horrific journey post being ripped from homelands, or glimpses in to their day to day lives, under whip, statistics surrounding them while considered property. This novel really gives an overall picture from the beginning of Royal involvement in slavery to 400+ years later.

It’s disturbing, it’s tragic, it’s bitter and criminal and dismissive. But this is necessary to read and be informed about.

I mostly hear slavery and think of Amistad and the Civil War and the Underground Railroad and abolitionists, first and foremost. I’ve never thought of slavery in terms of the Royal family nor as far back as Elizabeth I. What a troubled world.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas (Hardcover)
by Brooke N. Newman
It took a while to get through the dense nature of this story. With so much unknown information about the slave trade. How much the English crown and politics created not only the slave trade but profited from it in so many ways. This is a tough look at politics, society and deprivation of human character because of money.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Newman crafted a masterful study and condemnation of the British monarchy's involvement in the slave trade. Newman chronicles the centuries long history of this abhorrent practice with careful eye to detail and an engaging narrative voice. I highly recommend this book.

[Carol Grose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether your interest is historical fiction or history, you will find this book a pleasure to read. It adds depth to our understanding of how the monarchy operated across five hundred years of British history.

The Crown’s Silence gives a clear view into the British monarchy’s long entanglement with the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas. Frequently, omissions allowed scholars to avoid highlighting and analysing the British royal family’s role in encouraging and profiting from the slave trade and slavery. When Elizabeth I became queen, England’s finances were in a parlous state, and to rectify this she encouraged traders to follow the lead of Portugal and Spain and plunder west Africa. When she understood the profitability of the slave trade, she offered her political support, eventually investing herself and loaning navy warships as protection against the Spanish and Portuguese. The monarchs who followed Elizabeth used her strategy of investment and using military support to perpetuate the slave trade. Newman’s comprehensive and careful archival work demonstrates the significance of scrutinizing business transactions and policy to establish historical patterns. She shows the economic and political importance of slavery to the British monarchy and how, when abolishing the slave trade became a popular moral cause, the royal family became more oblique about how they benefitted.

Throughout The Crown’s Silence, Newman builds the argument by using a variety of archives that show how the monarchy was tied to commercial interests within the city of London. Credit facilities developed to facilitate the slave trade and the slave dependent plantation economies in the Americas. The historical narrative is at its strongest when she describes how the legal framework around slaveholding became more complicated in the eighteenth century in part because the British wanted to create a distinction between themselves and the “venal slavers” in America, creating a tiered system where slaves of African descent in the British isles had the potential for liberty. Creating the distinction fueled the abolition movement which peaked around the time Queen Victoria came to the throne. After slavery was abolished in the Caribbean, because people of African descent were put into a harsh form of coerced apprenticeship. As Newman points out, there was colonial campaign to credit Queen Victoria with the end of slavery and apprenticeship, although, unlike the slaveholders, they received no compensation for their years of labor. Moreover, Newman concludes that Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, the standard for future royal “statements without teeth or legal implications; statements carefully crafted to highlight Britain’s abolition efforts and erase centuries of racial exploitation and violence by omission.”

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen, I am not here to tell you that Brooke Newman's The Crown's Silence is a "good time" per se. It would be more accurate to say it is a meticulous and exquisite book which should be required reading. It should be compulsory reading for the British monarchy at the very least.

This may be the American in me, but I feel like slavery has two phases in the history we learn here in the states. First, there is the abhorrent triangle trade while the 13 colonies grew up. The second phase is from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War. In each phase, we have to wrestle with what that means about the founding of our nation and how it reverberates.

You know who gets off pretty easy in looking at it this way? The British monarchy! Unless you are diving deep into the slave trade (highly recommend The Zorg by Siddharth Kara), then you might very well completely miss the part where jolly old England was vital in expanding the trade to monstrous proportions. At the center of it is the royal family who not only profited from it all, but were key in keeping it alive.

I would call this book "important." However, this can often be code for "there is great information in here, but it will bore you to death." Not so with Newman's narrative. Besides being very well researched, she makes the plot interesting and engaging. She has a sixth sense in knowing when she has made her point and moving on to the next story. You won't be bored, but you might be sad and enraged. As we all should be.

(This book was provided as a review copy by Mariner Books.)

[D. E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not necessarily an easy read, but a very solid and well-researched story of the transatlantic slave trade.

Newman was thorough in her research and the presentation there of, going all the way back to Tudor England, and covering over 200 years of links between the British monarchy and its relationship with slavery. Newman did a very good job using a wide array of sources to show how the monarchy was linked and how monarchs over three different dynasties thought of slavery. She does not shy away from pointing out how the different kings and queens of England funded or were enriched by human bondage, and talks about the ways slavery grew and changed throughout the centuries. She also is very detailed in discussing some of the factors that may have led to the growth of slavery.

This is not an easy book to read because of the amount of detail and the subject matter. However, if you are looking for a comprehensive look at the interplay between the British crown and the institution of slavery, this would be a very good place to begin.

[Eursella Hayes-Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Crown’s Silence by Brooke Newman had a really strong concept — royal drama, buried secrets, and that constant tension that someone knows more than they’re saying. I was pulled in by the intrigue and the layered power dynamics right away.

The world-building was solid, and you can tell care went into crafting the political stakes. For me, though, the pacing dragged a little in spots, and I wanted deeper emotional connection with a few of the main characters. I kept waiting for certain moments to hit harder than they did.

Overall, it’s an engaging read with a compelling premise and enough mystery to keep you turning the pages. Not a total knockout, but definitely a worthwhile read if you enjoy palace drama and quiet, simmering suspense.

[Earl Ecklund III · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating study in how the British monarchy profited from and for many years encouraged the transatlantic slave trade. From Elizabeth I's sponsoring John Hawkins as a way to reduce the royal debt to the Stuart monarchs' Royal African Company that oversaw the official English slave trade to the many unofficial slave traders who also enjoyed English (and later British) protection to the eventual abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century the Crown found ways to profit off the sale of African slaves in the Americas (both North and South but particularly in the Caribbean) to Queen Victoria removing the last remnants of the system in 1838.

A well researched and readable book, very much recommended.

[Haerlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m always interested in books about the Transatlantic slave trade, especially those that don’t focus solely on the history of the enslaved in the United States. I knew England played a major role in this horrific chapter, but I hadn’t realized just how deep their involvement ran. It’s made me see the United Kingdom-and the monarchy- in a whole new light. I’d recommend this book to scholars of the transatlantic slave trade, anglophiles, history enthusiasts, and more. I listened to the audio version, which featured an engaging narrator with a smooth delivery, and I’d suggest this format unless the physical copy includes maps or other resources that could enhance the reader’s understanding.

[Crystal Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so well written and had so many facts. It is so important to remember history, even the terrible parts. I listened to the audiobook for this one. The narrator was great, but I wish I had read it instead. There was so much information (and a lot of European history I have forgotten - or never learned - since school), I definitely think I would have benefited from reading it. Would recommend!

Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for this audiobook!

[Tory Lindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for an audio ARC.

This was extensive and very well researched. I think I would’ve liked it more with a physical or kindle version so I could take extensive notes since it was so much information. The narrator wasn’t necessarily my favorite choice for such information heavy text but I still learned a lot and enjoyed it overall.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Even in the face of widespread slacker opposition, the British military and colonial officials armed enclaves men to fight for the empire. Imperial warfare also opened fissures in colonial space zones through which brutalized, hostile workers attempted to strike back against their oppressors.”

“The world waits.”

[Kaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

The Crown's Silence is a thorough depiction of the British Monarchy's involvement in Slavery with such great detail and a long history.

This book seems great for a school read to dive SO deep into the topic. I found it a bit long as someone who wanted to get a good idea about involvement and overview.

Overall, it was eye-opening and a good read.

[gaverne Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute classic. It is one of the most revealing books I have read in a long time. It is 200 years overdue so worth making the time to read.

[Jonathan Crain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brooke N. Newman's "The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas" is a work of historical reclamation—one that refuses to let the British monarchy remain peripheral in the story of the transatlantic slave trade. Rather than charting the familiar arc from profit to abolition, Newman presses the monarchy back into the center of the narrative and sustains that focus across four centuries. The result is a long-overdue and unflinching history of the Crown's complicity and, indeed, active participation in the slave trade.

Newman, an award-winning historian at Virginia Commonwealth University and fellow of the Royal Historical Society, gives us a straightforward four-part chronology that cuts across eras with precision. "Origins" identifies Elizabeth I not as a distant figure whose reign merely preceded England's involvement in slavery but as "the first Royal Slave Trader," a monarch who invested directly in John Hawkins's slaving ventures and profited handsomely from them. "Expansion" follows the tightening web of royal authority and commercial ambition. The Royal African Company, governed and funded by Charles II and James II, treated African captives as "Royal Commodities," even branding them with the initials of the Duke of York. In "Rupture," the empire reaches its height just as revolutions and abolitionist movements expose its contradictions. Finally, "Silences" traces how royal avoidance—beginning with Elizabeth I's "Video et taceo" ("I see and keep silent") motto—hardened into a durable institutional instinct. That habit of strategic quiet, Newman argues, endured into the reign of Elizabeth II.

The book's strength rests in its depth of research. Newman draws on company archives, state papers, royal grants, treaties, and abolitionist accounts to reconstruct a detailed record of monarchical involvement. The evidence often speaks with uncomfortable clarity: customs duties on sugar and tobacco accounting for a third of Crown revenue by 1687; the South Sea Company using the royal seal to mark enslaved captives destined for Spanish America; the Crown itself becoming one of the largest purchasers of enslaved people for military purposes.

Newman sets the documents of profit against those of firsthand human experience. Former enslaved persons Equiano, Cugoano, and Mary Prince serve as essential counterweights, preventing the book's institutional focus from abstracting what happened into what was merely "done." In doing so, she avoids treating the institution's scale as a justification for eclipsing the reality of the individuals subjected to it.

If the book's argument is forceful, it is because Newman does not pretend neutrality. Her analysis is openly revisionist, deliberately centering an institution that has often been treated as tangential to the story of British slavery. This reframing is the book's central achievement: not discovering unknown facts, but insisting on their proper weight. Newman shows that royal silence across four centuries has made the past inescapable: contemporary demands for apology and reparations are not new claims but deferred reckonings. The book's closed loop—from Elizabeth I's calculated denial to twenty-first-century expressions of "regret" that stop short of apology—makes that continuity difficult to ignore.

The book's institutional focus means Parliament's expanding role and the shifting constraints on royal power after the Glorious Revolution receive less attention than some might prefer. But Newman is clear about her purpose: this is a study of the Crown's choices and its sustained refusal to acknowledge them. Broadening the lens would diffuse that focused indictment.

"The Crown's Silence" is notable for its refusal to soften or diffuse its claims. Newman asks readers to see the monarchy not as a symbolic presence hovering above the machinery of empire, but as a propulsive force within it—investing, regulating, profiting, and then declining to speak. It is a history written with clarity rather than flourish, and its argument is persuasive because it is built patiently, from the archive outward.

"The Crown's Silence" is essential reading for anyone who believes history should interrogate power rather than defer to it. Newman writes against a contemporary tide of deliberate forgetting—governments attempting to ban discussions of slavery in schools, to criminalize discomfort with the past. Her answer is the archive itself: four centuries of documents that cannot be unwritten. For the monarchy, the book poses a challenge that silence alone cannot answer.

This review is of an advance reader's edition provided by NetGalley and Mariner, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.