Prince William has expressed “profound sorrow” over the “appalling atrocity of slavery” in a speech in Jamaica, but stopped short of issuing an apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade. William, who was speaking just hours after the Jamaican prime minister told him to his face that the country intended to become a republic and remove the queen as head of state, said in a speech at a state dinner in Kingston: “I strongly agree with my father, the Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history. I want to express my profound sorrow. Slavery was abhorrent. And it should never have happened.” During their tour of Jamaica, the couple has been met by protesters who want the royals to apologize for slavery and pay reparations. One prominent member of the Rastafari Nyahbinghi community told The Daily Telegraph: “We can only forgive people who acknowledge that what they did was wrong and are willing to repair the breach of the wrongs they have committed. And today the British monarchy has a lot of African artifacts in their possession, they still bathe in the wealth that was extracted out of the blood, sweat, and tears and lives of our people and we have never been compensated for any form of enslavement. We have never had an apology coming from the British monarchy to say they are sorry for slavery and colonialism.”