King Charles Heads to Caribbean as Campaigners Press for Slavery Apology

King Charles begins a nine-day Caribbean tour on Tuesday, and campaigners are warning that the monarchy's position as head of state in several countries could come under greater pressure unless he does more to address its historic links to slavery.

The king will visit the Bahamas and Guyana before travelling to Antigua and Barbuda, where he will attend the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, known as Chogm. He is expected to give three significant speeches during the trip. In line with government advice, he will not issue a formal apology for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade. The British government has also ruled out paying reparations.

Patrick Vernon, a cultural historian and the UK representative of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, said the stakes were very high. "I think it's the biggest crossroads for the Commonwealth since its creation," he said. He questioned what the point of membership would be if a crime against humanity recognised internationally could not even be discussed properly.

Protests are expected during the visit, along with demands for an apology and reparations. The tour comes four years after the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the region in 2022, a trip that drew wide criticism across the Caribbean after images showed the couple greeting Jamaican children through a wire fence.

Charles has gone further than his predecessors in acknowledging the monarchy's links to slavery, but the region has changed. Ghana tabled a UN resolution describing the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity and calling for reparatory justice. Jamaica has also submitted an unprecedented reparations petition to the king, due to be heard by the UK-based privy council next March.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan reparations, said the royal family and the UK government had failed to grasp a global shift on the issue. She argued that words such as "atrocity", "deep regret" and "sorrow" were no longer enough. She added that the Commonwealth clearly mattered to the monarchy and that the king would not want it to crumble under his reign. Pointing to the Dutch king's apology, she said: "Their world didn't end."

Prof Robert Beckford, a theologian at the University of Wolverhampton, said credibility was at stake, resting on the king's ability to empathise with Caribbean history. He suggested a creative path could be for the king to back a national truth and reconciliation commission examining Britain's role in slavery.

In the Bahamas, High Priest Richmond McKinney, a Rastafarian leader who took part in protests against Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980s, is organising a demonstration on Tuesday and Wednesday. "You say you regret slavery, but your regret is not good enough. We want a full apology from you," he said. Guyana's president, Irfaan Ali, has also said he wants progress toward reparations, beginning with an apology.

There are no formal reparations items on the agenda of the Commonwealth summit in Antigua. Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caribbean community reparations commission, nonetheless said the issue would be the number one item for Caribbean delegates and others with an interest in the region.