In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace on behalf of King Charles III after being contacted by The Guardian, the monarchy said it will support research being conducted by the Historic Royal Palaces and Manchester University into the crown’s ties to slavery. Specifically, “the royal household is supporting this research through access to the royal collection and the royal archives.”

Such access explicitly to study records regarding slavery is a new step for the monarchy, which has generally attempted to downplay its sordid past concerning racism and the slave trade.

The move came after The Guardian published a reported detailing the extent to which Charles’ ancestors, King William III and Queen Mary II, were personally involved in the slave trade during their rule of England in the late 1600s. King William, in particular, is documented to have received significant shares in the Royal African Country, which administered much of the English slave trade. Profits from the royal family’s involvement in the slave trade were used to build Kensington Palace, which is still used as one of the royal family’s main homes. William III was one of many British monarchs and ancestors of the current royals who were heavily involved in the country’s slave operations.

The announcement from King Charles comes as the British monarchy has come under sustained criticism for its treatment of race in the UK. The death of Queen Elizabeth II last year opened up new scrutiny of the monarchy, as its history of colonialism and oppression became a topic of conversation. There have been widespread accusations and reports of racism coming from the royal family towards Meghan Markle, who married Charles’ younger son, Prince Harry, in 2018. Buckingham Palace has denied that it was racist towards Markle or that the royal family drove her and Prince Harry, Charles’ younger son, to relocate to the United States. Harry will reportedly attend his father’s official coronation ceremony, while Markle will stay in the US, a move that many interpret as reflecting continued tensions between her and the royals.

While Charles’s new willingness to confront his family’s racist past will not fix the monarchy’s image or mend the fractured royal family, it could symbolize a willingness to change. By moving from denial to acknowledgment, the British royal family can start to set a new course for itself when it comes to issues of race, discrimination and oppression.