French man, 86, issues historic apology for family’s role in transatlantic slavery

Key Points:

• Pierre Guillon de Prince, an 86-year-old Frenchman, issued what is believed to be the first formal apology in France for his family's involvement in transatlantic slavery, whose ancestors were shipowners in Nantes responsible for transporting around 4,500 enslaved Africans and owning Caribbean plantations.
• Guillon de Prince called on other French families to confront their historical ties to slavery and urged the French state to move beyond symbolic gestures toward reparations, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the past amid rising racism.
• The apology was made at a Nantes event inaugurating an 18-meter replica ship mast, symbolizing a "beacon of humanity," alongside Dieudonné Boutrin, a descendant of enslaved people from Martinique, with both working to break the silence around slavery.
• France trafficked an estimated 1.3 million Africans during the transatlantic slave trade and recognized slavery as a crime against humanity in 2001 but has never formally apologized or committed to reparations, contrasting with some British institutions that have issued apologies.
• Recent apologies in the UK include those from Lloyd’s Register, the insurer Lloyd’s of London, and the Bank of England, which acknowledged their historical links to slavery and pledged actions such as removing related statues and artworks from public display.