The monarch is preparing for what could be a very difficult nine days
October 25, 2026 by Gemma Strong
ing Charles has undertaken over 100 foreign trips and overseas tours, spanning his time as Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Wales, and finally as the reigning monarch.
But his visit to the Caribbean next week is proving especially contentious.
On Tuesday, Charles and Queen Camilla will begin their tour, which will see them travel to three countries in nine days: the Bahamas, Guyana and finally Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The tour – planned for 27 October to 4 November – will “celebrate the communities, cultures and nature within the Commonwealth family,” Buckingham Palace said.
However, it will also throw the King into the centre of a fierce ongoing debate about the payment of reparations – compensation from countries that took part in the slave trade.
Calls for King Charles to apologise
There have been calls for Charles to apologise for the UK’s role in what he has previously called an “appalling atrocity” that has left an “indelible stain” on history.
Author and historian Sir Anthony Seldon told the BBC: “This is the biggest risk of his reign so far with so much just outside of his control.
“Questions about slavery, reparations and apologies mean the moral integrity of the monarchy is being questioned.”
King Charles will make three speeches over the course of the tour. In line with government advice, however, he is not expected to issue an official apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.
A senior royal aide told the BBC that the King would “not shy away from the darkest days of our past” but stressed that any decisions over issuing apologies and reparations were matters for the government.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s administration – like those before it – will not pay reparations.
Buckingham Palace said that acknowledging the wrongs of the past will be built into the King’s programme in all three countries.
Charles’s comments when Queen Elizabeth was removed as Head of State
Next week’s tour marks the first time the King has visited the Caribbean since 2021, when he travelled to Barbados to see the country officially remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic.
The monarch, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, acknowledged the “appalling atrocity of slavery” the Caribbean island suffered in his speech at the time.
He also visited Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 following the widespread devastation caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and paid official visits to Guyana in 2000 and the Bahamas in 1973.
Source: Hello
See also
British heirs of slavery back reparations
Why the King’s Caribbean tour could be ‘biggest risk of his reign’