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The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy
A ground-breaking and essential work of history – the first of its kind to closely examine the British Royal Family’s connection with the transatlantic slave trade
The Crown's Silence is the untold story of the British royal family’s relationship to slavery from the reign of Elizabeth I to the present. It will be the first history of the British monarchy told through the lens of its intimate, centuries-long relationship with African slave trading, slavery, and racial injustice.
A work of ground-breaking original research and narrative synthesis, it exposes the ways in which the British monarchy invested in, expanded, and defended the transatlantic slave trade for nearly three centuries and how it continues to profit from systems of racial exploitation to this day – while remaining silent in the face of that legacy. It will reveal how the Crown effectively ruptured and reshaped Britain’s national narrative and collective memory of its own colonial past as well as the consequences of that deafening silence.
As former British colonies in the Caribbean consider severing their ties with the Crown (and the British royal family sends emissaries to try to keep them), The Crown's Silence tells a history that is very much in the headlines – and will no doubt continue to be. It will be the next chapter in revealing the lost histories of not only Britain and the United States, but of our world.
The Crown's Silence is the untold story of the British royal family’s relationship to slavery from the reign of Elizabeth I to the present. It will be the first history of the British monarchy told through the lens of its intimate, centuries-long relationship with African slave trading, slavery, and racial injustice.
A work of ground-breaking original research and narrative synthesis, it exposes the ways in which the British monarchy invested in, expanded, and defended the transatlantic slave trade for nearly three centuries and how it continues to profit from systems of racial exploitation to this day – while remaining silent in the face of that legacy. It will reveal how the Crown effectively ruptured and reshaped Britain’s national narrative and collective memory of its own colonial past as well as the consequences of that deafening silence.
As former British colonies in the Caribbean consider severing their ties with the Crown (and the British royal family sends emissaries to try to keep them), The Crown's Silence tells a history that is very much in the headlines – and will no doubt continue to be. It will be the next chapter in revealing the lost histories of not only Britain and the United States, but of our world.
- GenresHistory
446 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 21, 2026
I bought this book after reading the following article in The Guardian: here.
Newman has produced an excellent work, searching and collecting all the information like pieces of a puzzle, until a clear picture emerges of the history of the slave trade and the direct interest of the royal family. The story begins with the first agreement made by Queen Elizabeth I in 1564 and ends with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, under the reign of Queen Victoria.
It is a very engaging and sad read, where we come to understand the development of the slave trade, already perpetrated by the Portuguese and Spanish during the colonisation period after the discovery of America, and the subsequent entry of England into the trade. All the events are clearly presented, well documented, and in chronological order; there is no jumping back and forth in time or irrelevant comparison with modern values.
Apart from the Crown’s involvement, which, even after agreeing to emancipation, masked a new form of exploitation through apprenticeship, the book doesn’t spare the brutality suffered by enslaved people. It describes their inhumane coercion and transportation across the oceans, analysing the crucial moments of the colonies and the anti-slavery sentiment born after the publication of the autobiographies of former slaves Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano and Mary Prince.
The royal family has never apologised for almost three hundred years of damage caused, perhaps fearing having to pay reparations or losing the world’s respect: we are still waiting.
I was shocked to read the words of Daniel Defoe, a writer who I never imagined was also a trader:
I am not sure if I should read Robinson Crusoe anymore.
Newman has produced an excellent work, searching and collecting all the information like pieces of a puzzle, until a clear picture emerges of the history of the slave trade and the direct interest of the royal family. The story begins with the first agreement made by Queen Elizabeth I in 1564 and ends with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, under the reign of Queen Victoria.
It is a very engaging and sad read, where we come to understand the development of the slave trade, already perpetrated by the Portuguese and Spanish during the colonisation period after the discovery of America, and the subsequent entry of England into the trade. All the events are clearly presented, well documented, and in chronological order; there is no jumping back and forth in time or irrelevant comparison with modern values.
Apart from the Crown’s involvement, which, even after agreeing to emancipation, masked a new form of exploitation through apprenticeship, the book doesn’t spare the brutality suffered by enslaved people. It describes their inhumane coercion and transportation across the oceans, analysing the crucial moments of the colonies and the anti-slavery sentiment born after the publication of the autobiographies of former slaves Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano and Mary Prince.
The royal family has never apologised for almost three hundred years of damage caused, perhaps fearing having to pay reparations or losing the world’s respect: we are still waiting.
I was shocked to read the words of Daniel Defoe, a writer who I never imagined was also a trader:
“no African trade, no Negroes; no Negroes, no sugars, gingers, indigoes, etc.; no sugars, etc., no islands; no islands, no continent; no continent, no trade; that is to say, farewell all your American trade, your West-Indian trade.”
I am not sure if I should read Robinson Crusoe anymore.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews