Palace aide says King Charles relishes politically charged role

A senior Buckingham Palace aide says King Charles relishes the most politically difficult parts of his role, as the monarch completed a nine-day Caribbean tour dominated by calls for Britain to apologise for slavery and provide reparations.

The aide said the King would continue to be sent into “politically charged situations” and described him as “a great secret weapon”. The tour included visits to the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, whose leaders all support reparatory justice.

“We have to tread quite a careful line sometimes between government policy and the King’s role,” the aide said. He described the visit as complex, challenging and exhausting, but ultimately successful, and said Charles had shown “statecraft both by word and deed”.

The aide said the King was not only suited to the easier parts of his job. “In fact, that’s probably the part of the job that he relishes most,” he said, citing the King’s work on the environment and on renewing relationships with countries facing complex political issues.

The tour brought renewed attention to Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and the question of whether the King should apologise. Charles spoke of the trade as a shameful chapter that filled him with sorrow, but the aide said the constitutional position depended on the elected government: “The King is the crown, the crown is the state, the state is run by an elected government.”

The aide said Buckingham Palace had been told about Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s openness to an apology in a timely manner, rejecting suggestions it had been caught by surprise. Burnham’s comments intensified debate during the visit.

Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, Gaston Browne, has called for structured dialogue on slavery and colonialism and wants his country to move towards becoming a republic. The aide said the royal family would serve the region for as long as people wanted it to, but that “a new arrangement can be found” if they did not.

The aide also described the demands of the tour, which involved about 40 engagements in temperatures of around 35C. Charles, who is still undergoing cancer treatment, will turn 78 next week. The aide said the King and Queen Camilla continued to manage the rigours of royal visits.