Princess Esmeralda repeats her call for Belgium to ‘apologise’ for colonial past

Brussels: Belgium´s Princess Esmeralda has repeated her call for Belgium to "apologise" for its colonial past and not simply express regret.

Her comments, made in an interview this week, come as the royal palace announced that King Philippe will visit the DR Congo, a former Belgian colony, next month.

Two years ago, he expressed regret for his country´s colonial abuses, but Esmeralda says Belgium must go further to help repair the damage.

"Belgium must apologise," she told AFP.

"As in a couple, apologies are important to restart a balanced relationship."

The princess first made the call in 2020 on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A great-grandniece of King Leopold II, a monarch who has gone down in history for his violent conquest of the Congo at the end of the 19th century, she also advocated the removal of statues of her ancestor and their dispatch to museums.

That stance earned her "a lot of mail" and criticism, she admitted.

"I was not attacking my current family. We are not responsible for our ancestors," but "we have a responsibility to talk about it".

She said she "understands the expressions of rage" against these colonial symbols.