Charles begins Caribbean tour amid reparations and monarchy debate

King Charles is due to begin a nine-day Caribbean tour on Tuesday, visiting the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda amid calls for reparations for slavery and renewed debate about the monarchy’s future in the region.

The trip will include three major speeches and about 36 engagements. The King is expected to follow government advice not to issue an official apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. A senior royal aide said he would “not shy away from the darkest days of our past”, while stressing that decisions on apologies and reparations were for the government.

Historian Sir Anthony Seldon called the tour “the biggest risk of his reign so far”, saying questions about slavery, reparations and apologies put the monarchy’s moral integrity under scrutiny. Protests are considered likely, and organisers have included the possibility in security planning.

Leaders in all three countries support reparatory justice. In the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, where Charles is head of state, there is significant support for becoming republics. In Antigua and Barbuda, elected officials no longer have to swear allegiance to the King, ending a tradition lasting four decades.

The tour also follows criticism of the 2022 Caribbean visit by William and Catherine, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Images of them greeting children through a wire fence in Jamaica drew criticism, and protests led to part of the schedule being cancelled.

David Lammy, a former foreign secretary with family ties to the region, said the King would be “overwhelmingly received positively” in Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, while acknowledging that “these are lively democracies in which of course there will be some dissent”.

The schedule comes as Charles approaches his 78th birthday and continues regular treatment following a cancer diagnosis. Buckingham Palace says he is on a “positive trajectory”. Queen Camilla will join him for the Antigua and Barbuda leg, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.