King Charles is expected to address the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade with what Buckingham Palace has described as unflinching honesty when he opens the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. The summit runs from Sunday to Wednesday in St John's, bringing together leaders of the 56-nation Commonwealth, and the King's opening address is set to be one of its defining moments.

The Palace has confirmed that the King will not shy away from the most shameful aspects of the past, while also making clear that he will speak as Head of the Commonwealth rather than as the British monarch, and will not comment on UK government policy. During his nine-day Caribbean tour he has already acknowledged the great suffering of the past in the Bahamas and visited a colonial-era execution site in Guyana, engagements that have drawn both welcoming crowds and small protests calling for a formal apology and reparations.

Apology open, reparations ruled out

The speech follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham's announcement on Saturday that he is open to discussions about a formal British apology for the slave trade, while firmly ruling out financial reparations. Burnham argued that people living in Britain today cannot be held liable for historical wrongs committed in a different age under different laws, and proposed a debt-restructuring initiative for poorer Commonwealth nations led by former prime minister Gordon Brown. Caribbean reaction has been mixed: Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley welcomed the openness to an apology, Antigua's Gaston Browne called it significant, and St Lucia's Philip J Pierre said the Caribbean Community does not accept that reparations are the wrong answer. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has questioned the timing of the intervention.