The British royals have an est. $34.3B in assets, with #KingCharles set to receive ~$500M without paying inheritance tax.
At its peak, the British empire colonized parts of every continent but Antarctica and subjugated 1 out of 5 people on Earth.
A 🧵on its destructive impact:
One major source of Britain’s wealth was the slave trade — it enslaved 6M West Africans in a little over 100 years.
It compensated slave owners with around $21B after it outlawed slavery in 1834.
Descendants of enslaved people were not paid reparations.
Britain forced large amounts of opium on China in exchange for goods during the 19th century.
About 10% of Chinese people became regular users of the drug.
In the resulting Opium Wars:
▪️Britain defeated China, forced the signing of “unequal" treaties
▪️took over Hong Kong
Britain executed, tortured or injured 90K Kenyans in the 1950s Mau Mau anti-colonial uprising.
It:
▪️Detained 1.5M without trial
▪️Starved children in camps
In 2012, a London court ruled 3 Kenyans who were tortured could claim compensation. The Queen herself never apologized.
Britain paved the way for the forced expulsion of 750K+ Palestinians from their land after it promised to “create a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
The Balfour Declaration led to the founding of Israel in 1948, with 15K Palestinians killed from 1947 to 1949.
Britain looted India, its largest colony at the time, for over 200 years. It drained an estimated $45 trillion from the country, experts say.
Britain's "complete policy failure" and control of food imports killed up to 3M Indians during the 1943 Bengal famine, says a study.
Britain's King Charles is still the symbolic head of state in 14 countries following Queen Elizabeth's death.
That could soon change:
▪️Antigua & Barbuda says it will vote on becoming a republic
▪️Jamaica says it plans to become a republic, people protested a royal visit in March
Kenyans are suing Britain for up to $200B in reparations for land theft and violent colonial abuses.
With multinational corporations still occupying the land, former Chief Justice of Kenya Willy Mutunga explains how it's like "the British never left."
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