ROYAL commentator Michael Cole has said that King Charles should not apologise for historic British military action in Kenya during his visit there.
He was responding to reports that the King will acknowledge a “painful history” between the two countries during a trip there tomorrow.
Asked if the King should apologise, Cole told GB News: “I don't believe so. I think we've moved on…
“I think what we will hear are plenty of expressions of sincere regret, or some of the painful aspects of our shared colonial past.
Michael Cole has urged the King not to apologise for Britain's past wrongs
GB NEWS / PA
“But the King is quite a fan of Jeeves and Wooster and I'm sure he took note of PG Woodhouse, the author of those stories, who said it is a good rule in life never to apologise.
“The right sort of people do not want apologies and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”
Speaking to Patrick Christys, he continued: "The problem with apologists is that once they're made, they open up a Pandora's box, a legal Pandora's box.
“I think that the King will follow the example of the then Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2013, which was the 50th anniversary of Kenya's independence when he expressed very full regret.
“He made a comprehensive statement about what had happened.”
He added: “There were massacres on both sides and, as I'm sure the King will be stressing, there's regret about that. It was a different time.
“This emergency began shortly after the Queen, who was in Kenya when she actually became Queen in February 1952, and it went on from 1953 for another ten years until Kenya achieved its independence in 1963.”
