Princess Eugenie unveils new anti-slavery podcast amid royal backlash in Caribbean

The new endeavour by the Anti-Slavery Collective, founded by the royal and her friend, will feature guests ‘helping to combat modern slavery’

Princess Eugenie is launching a podcast for her anti-slavery charity (Getty)

Princess Eugenie has announced the launch of her anti-slavery charity’s new podcast, Floodlight.

The royal, who co-founded the Anti-Slavery Collective with her friend Julia de Boinville in 2017, took to Instagram to make the big reveal.

It comes as the royal family is facing called for slavery reparations in the Caribbean, after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, went on tours on the islands in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Eugenie, daughter the Duke and Duchess of York, previously announced the upcoming podcast series in January in a newsletter, describing the latest endeavour as “long-awaited”.

On Wednesday, Eugenie invited listeners to join her and Boinville on a weekly basis “as we sit down with guests from all walks of life who are helping to combat modern slavery in a variety of ways”.

“From lawmakers and company leaders to famous activists, survivors and journalists, Floodlight shows you just how prominent modern slavery is and that we can all do something about it,” she added.

The first episode of Floodlight, released today, features Caroline Haughey OBE, a criminal barrister and Queen’s Council who is widely regarded as one of the leading experts in modern slavery in the UK.

Haughey prosecuted the first modern slavery case in the UK and helped draft the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

She was recently announced as one of the members of the Anti-Slavery Collective’s Advisory Board, alongside former prime minister Theresa May, author Jared Cohen, journalist William Lewis, and American-British investment banker and philanthropist John Studzinski.

In the podcast, Haughey speaks to the princess and Boinville about her involvement in Operation Fort, an effort led by the West Midlands Police that uncovered the UK’s largest-ever modern slavery network.

The barrister goes into detail about the case and opens up about the struggle in bringing the perpetrators to justice. She also advises on how members of the public can spot signs of modern slavery in everyday life.

Earlier this year, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s tour of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas was overshadowed by protests at each stop by locals calling for the royal family to acknowledge their role in the slave trade and pay reparations.

The calls have been renewed after Edward, the Queen’s youngest son, and his wife began their tour in Saint Lucia last week, followed by visits to Saint Vincent and the Grnadines and Antigua and Barbuda. Commentators condemned the Wessexes for being “tone-deaf” after they gifted a signed photograph of themselves to the prime minister of Saint Lucia.

On Monday, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda urged the royal couple to use their “diplomatic influence” to achieve “reparatory justice” that is sought across the Caribbean.

Eugenie and Boinville previously revealed that they “first became aware of modern slavery” during a 2012 trip to an organisation called Women’s Interlink Foundation in Kolkata, India.

They said in an Instagram post shared last October: “We were shocked to discover the extent to which slavery still exists. In fact, there are more enslaved people today than at any other point in history and, at any one time, someone is being trafficked within a mile of where you live.

“We often associate slavery with chains and shackles, but modern slavery is a hidden crime that is often hard to detect.”