Will British monarch follow in Dutch King's footsteps?

King Charles III is facing new challenge after Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has apologised for his country' involement role in the slave trade.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the 160th anniversary of the legal abolition of slavery in the Netherlands on Saturday, the Dutch King said: "On this day that we remember the Dutch history of slavery, I ask forgiveness for this crime against humanity."

In April, BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan urged the British monarch to apologise for the royal family's slave trade past.

The journalist, according to Daily Mail, made the demand after she quit her job and paid £100,000 in reparation after learning of her own family's slavery links.

Earlier this year, The Guardian said an archive document discovered by historian Brooke Newman showed that in 1689 King William III had been given 1,000 pounds of shares in the Royal African Company (RAC) which was involved in the transportation of thousands of slaves from Africa to the Americas.

However, royal family vowed to support an independent research project looking into any links between the monarchy and slavery during the late seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries, by allowing access to the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives.

The Palace also highlighted a speech Charles made to Commonwealth leaders last June, in which the monarch said: "I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery's enduring impact."