King Charles will not apologise for Britain's role in the slave trade during his eight-day tour of The Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, Buckingham Palace has made clear. The King will also not entertain calls for reparations, despite campaigners across the Caribbean demanding both.
Aides say Charles will not shy away from what he once called "the darkest days of our past" and will take part in moments of reflection along the way. The King acts on the advice of his ministers, and Andy Burnham's government has been blunt in its assessment: Britain does not and will not pay reparations.
Campaigners demand apology
Ahead of the King and Queen's arrival next week, the chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee said it will be unacceptable for the King to visit without being prepared to say sorry.
Jamaica, not on the itinerary but the scene of a major shift in international intentions from the Prince and Princess of Wales following their own controversial experience of the Caribbean, delivered a petition in September asking Charles to refer Britain's legal liability to the Privy Council.
Legal fears in Whitehall
The fear in Whitehall is legal rather than moral. An apology from the head of state could be seized on as an admission of liability, opening the door to claims running into billions. Jamaica alone puts its bill at around £7.5 billion.
Yet the Dutch managed it. When King Willem-Alexander apologised for his country's role in slavery in 2023, the sky did not fall in. A royal apology from Charles would be seismic and would earn him enormous goodwill in places where support for the Crown is not only ebbing away, it is actively being discussed as its own relic of the past.
However, if Charles were to go against the grain in order to contribute to his legacy, it would put him at odds with his own government, which no constitutional monarch can afford.
Lessons from William's 2022 tour
Charles need only look at his eldest son to see how quickly these tours can unravel. In March 2022, William and Catherine set off for Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on a trip meant to celebrate the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee. But within days it had become a public relations disaster.
Local protests in Belize and campaigners demanding an apology outside in Kingston were compounded by pictures of the couple shaking the hands of local children through a wire fence. The sight of the couple riding in the same open Land Rover the late Queen Elizabeth II used in 1962 was savaged as yet another colonial throwback.
William later spoke of his "profound sorrow" but stopped short of an apology, and came home bruised, conceding the tour had raised hard questions about the past and the future.
Reflection may satisfy the diplomats. Whether it satisfies the crowds lining the streets is another matter.
