King Charles and Queen Camilla begin a Caribbean tour on 27 October 2026, running to 4 November. The itinerary takes in the Bahamas and Guyana first, then Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The Commonwealth has 56 member nations, mostly former British colonies; Charles heads the organisation and its leaders meet every two years.

Reparations on the agenda

At the 2022 Commonwealth leaders' meeting, Charles expressed deep personal sorrow over slavery, and the issue is expected to feature prominently again. Last month, the Caribbean Community — 23 member and associate member states including the Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica — said it would push for reparations to be on the summit agenda. Its secretary-general, Carla Barnett, said reparations were fundamentally about justice, recognition, accountability and transformation.

Palace position

Buckingham Palace said the King would not shy away from Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade, but would not formally apologise, in line with UK government policy, which also excludes financial reparations. The tour therefore arrives with the central question unresolved: how far a symbolic acknowledgement can go when the governments involved rule out payments.

The summit in Antigua and Barbuda will bring together leaders from across the 56-nation organisation, and the final communiqué will show whether reparations made it onto the formal agenda or stayed in the margins of the meeting. For the Caribbean states pushing the issue, getting it named in that document is itself a measure of progress.

Source: Reuters, 27 October 2026.