Study finds Dutch royal house shared responsibility for slavery’s survival

The Dutch royal house actively supported colonialism for centuries and shared responsibility for the survival of slavery and the slave trade, a historical study commissioned by King Willem-Alexander has found. Leiden University said the three-year study examined the period from 1600 to the present. Its historians and human rights experts concluded that the House of Orange-Nassau supported colonialism “wholeheartedly” and generally raised no objections to slavery, although it rarely determined colonial policy directly.

The study found that the royal family profited substantially from the colonial system, particularly through trade in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Researchers estimated that 19th-century profits amounted to about $650m in current terms. They said the family earned almost nothing directly from the slave trade.

Willem-Alexander said the findings were painful and personally affecting, despite the fact that he was three generations removed from the period under examination. He said colonialism’s effects remained visible in discrimination and economic exploitation. The king had apologised in 2023 for his ancestors’ failure to act against slavery.

The Dutch government apologised a year earlier after acknowledging state responsibility for transatlantic slavery. The findings could revive debate about reparations. The government has ruled out reparations and established a €200m fund for social initiatives, which anti-racism campaigners have criticised as inadequate.

The National Institute for the Dutch Slavery Past and Heritage welcomed the commissioning of the research. Its director, Bianca Groen Gallant, said historical findings should contribute to public awareness, education, dialogue and discussion of responsibility and reparatory justice. The Dutch played a major role in the global slave trade from the 17th century until slavery was abolished in the second half of the 19th century.