Six days into his Caribbean tour, the King and Queen were seen together for the first time as Camilla joined her husband for the first of four official engagements in the blistering heat of Antigua and Barbuda.
There was welcome relief in the cool interior of St John’s Pentecostal House of Restoration, where Charles and Camilla took their seats for an hour-long service marking the nation’s Independence Day, alongside VIPs including Prime Minister Gaston Browne and cricket legend Sir Viv Richards.
But while it was a moment of calm before the diplomatic challenges that await the King at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this week, even Bishop Ernest Flemming’s sermon touched on themes at the heart of the debate over whether the monarch should apologise for Britain’s historic involvement in slavery.
“True partnership requires mutual respect, it requires listening, it requires fairness,” he told the congregation. The message could hardly have been more relevant as the King prepares for one of the most closely scrutinised speeches of his reign.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s offer to discuss a formal apology, if not reparations, has changed the political landscape, although Palace sources insist it will not change what the King has planned to say.
But it has inevitably added to the pressure. The King will be addressing the gathering as Head of the Commonwealth, rather than on behalf of the UK Government, and he is now caught between growing expectations among member nations and the constitutional limits of his position.
© Getty ImagesAs I write, he is preparing for an audience with Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who has been a vocal advocate for reparatory justice for nations affected by the transatlantic slave trade. Mr Browne, in fact, reiterated his demand for reparations just hours before meeting the King.
It’s a situation we should expect the King to navigate deftly, however, thanks to his many decades on the world stage and the strong relationships he has built across the Commonwealth. As a senior Palace aide said earlier this week, “His Majesty is well practised on the diplomatic tightrope… he’s up for challenging visits with complex issues and relationships at play.”
It’s also worth pointing out that the welcome on the ground has been overwhelmingly warm and the Antigua and Barbuda government is determined that discussions about Britain’s colonial legacy should not distract too much from the visit by their Head of State.
Tonight the focus will be on celebrating 45 years of the country’s independence, with a spectacular parade at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium, followed by a cricket match between two teams made up of Commonwealth leaders - one led by President William Ruto of Kenya, the other by Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
© Getty ImagesHaving Queen Camilla at his side will also be a welcome boost for Charles as he prepares for his big moment on Tuesday. They were reunited on Friday evening, 24 hours after she arrived in St John’s and spent Saturday privately together.
At nearly 78 and still undergoing cancer treatment, the King has shown remarkable stamina during a demanding schedule. But after a week of facing difficult diplomatic territory alone, he will surely welcome the support of his wife, who has been his closest ally for so many years.
He cannot rewrite the past, nor can he make decisions that belong to the Government. But his longstanding commitment to the Commonwealth and the relationships he has built over the years give him a unique opportunity to help shape its future.
