King Charles begins a Caribbean tour this week, with the Bahamas and Guyana as his first destinations. He will then travel to Antigua and Barbuda with his wife Camilla, where the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will take place. The tour is scheduled from 27 October to 4 November.
CHOGM is held every two years, and at the previous Commonwealth leaders' meeting in 2022, Charles expressed deep regret over slavery. The Commonwealth is a group of 56 countries, mostly former British colonies, with a population of around 2.7 billion people. Charles is the head of state of numerous Caribbean nations, including the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda.
Last month, the community of 23 Caribbean states CARICOM, which includes the Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica, announced that a call for reparations would be on the CHOGM agenda. CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett said that the issue of reparations is fundamentally about justice.
Buckingham Palace stated that the king would not avoid the topic of British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade during the tour, but Charles would not make an official apology for that involvement. UK government policy rules out the possibility of any financial reparations. A palace spokesperson said it was important to highlight his Majesty's work over several years to acknowledge past wrongs and to try to find creative ways to address inequalities that persist.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Botchwey said last week that it was time to discuss reparations, whether financial or otherwise, such as the return of historical or cultural artefacts. In a statement to Sky News, Botchwey added that an apology from the king "would not go amiss".
From the 15th to the 19th century, European traders kidnapped and sold at least 12.5 million Africans into slavery. Britain was responsible for transporting approximately 3.2 million people, making it the second most active European country after Portugal.
