Calls for king and royals to apologise over slave trade ahead of major tour

King Charles is facing one of the greatest challenges of his reign as he prepares to embark on a major foreign tour next week.

This time, it’s not the Duke and Duchess of Sussex causing a headache for the monarch, nor is it Princess Diana’s outspoken brother Earl Spencer reopening old wounds.

Charles will soon depart the UK for the Carribean where there are growing calls for him to apologise over the royal family’s colonial past.

It’s an issue that has overshadowed the royal family’s relationship with the region for years, but the popularity of Queen Elizabeth II managed to keep the anger at bay throughout much of her 70-year reign.

Since Charles’ accession as monarch in 2022, questions around Britain’s role in slavery, and calls for reparations to its former colonies, have only grown.

On Tuesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla will begin a nine-day tour of the Caribbean coinciding with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

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The royal visit will begin in The Bahamas from Tuesday to Thursday, a nation where King Charles is head of state.

Their Majesties will continue to Guyana for a two-day state visit from Thursday through to Friday. King Charles will be there to mark 60 years of bilateral relations between the UK and Guyana.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will end their tour in Antigua and Barbuda from Sunday through to Wednesday, November 4. There the king and queen will attend CHOGM, two years after the previous summit in Samoa which followed Charles and Camilla’s visit to Australia in 2024.

Buckingham Palace has already said King Charles would not shy away from the “darkest days of our past” during his tour, according to The Times and ITV News.

But the monarch has ruled out a formal apology.

Saying sorry and talk of reparations are matters for the UK government, the palace said, which has previously ruled out any financial compensation.

When the Prince and Princess of Wales last toured the Caribbean in 2022 in celebration of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, the royal visit was not without its problems.

Over eight days, Prince William and Catherine travelled to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas in a tour that was marred by controversy, protests and calls for an apology from the British crown over its role in the slave trade.

Despite a large turnout from locals across the three nations, and a number of standout photo moments, the royal tour suffered several PR blunders that forced their team to rethink how best to conduct future tours and their relevance.

William and Catherine were sent there as part of a so-called charm offensive to prevent other Caribbean nations from cutting ties with the monarchy. The year before, Barbados dumped the queen as head of state and became a republic.

While in Jamaica, the prime minister Andrew Holness told William that the country was ready to “move on” and would sever ties with the monarchy as soon as possible.

The day before, William and Catherine had an unfortunate moment when they were photographed shaking hands with Jamaicans through a wire fence.

It took place in Trench Town, a suburb of the capital Kingston, where Bob Marley once lived.

Hours before, as William and Catherine landed in Jamaica, there had been a large protest outside the British High Commission, demanding an apology from the royals for Britain’s role in the slave trade, with the queen accused of perpetuating “the greatest human rights tragedy in history”.

Another moment of the tour criticised for its “colonial” overtones was a recreation of a moment from the Elizabeth II’s 1966 visit to Jamaica which saw her and Prince Philip ride in an open-air Land Rover.

The moment, and parts of the tour in general was called “tone deaf” and even a “disaster”.

During the visit, William did not ignore the past and denounced slavery as “abhorrent” and expressed his “profound sorrow”.

He said slavery "should never have happened" and "forever stains our history".

King Charles, too, is likely to address the issue more than once next week.

In 2022 Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda where the king will end his tour, proposed a referendum on abolishing the monarchy within three years. But that is yet to happen.

Guyana, another stop on the tour, is a republic. Of the Commonwealth’s 56 members, just 14 − including Australia − have King Charles as head of state.

The king, much like his late mother was, is known for his soft diplomacy skills which will be put to the test when he begins the tour next week.