Royal news live: King Charles accepts ‘painful aspects of our past’ as he bids farewell to Samoa
The monarch acknowledged the need to ‘right inequalites that endure’ in landmark speech
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King Charles III acknowledged the “most painful aspects” of the Commonwealth’s past as he bid goodbye to Samoa after indirectly acknowledging growing calls for slavery reprations in Samoa.
Charles and Queen Camilla ended their four-day state visit to Samoa by visiting a village twinned with the UK after attending a major Commonwealth summit was hosted by the Pacific nation.
In his landmark speech at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) on Friday, the monarch acknowledged the need to “acknowledge where we have come from”.
He told world leaders at the summit: “None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.”
But Charles stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the event urged for and instead exhorted them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists”.
In Pics: King Charles officially open The King’s Garden in Apia
Watch: Alpaca sneezes on King Charles during walkabout in Australia
An alpaca sneezed on King Charles III as he greeted crowds on a walkabout in Canberra, Australia.
Owner Robert Fletcher brought nine-year-old alpaca Hefner to meet the monarch outside the Australian War Memorial.
Hefner was calmly waiting — wearing a crown and a gold bow tie — before leaving the King “in disbelief” with a sneeze after Charles stroked his nose.
Alpaca sneezes on King Charles during walkabout in Australia
An alpaca sneezed on King Charles III as he greeted crowds on a walkabout in Canberra, Australia, on Monday, 21 October. Owner Robert Fletcher brought nine-year-old alpaca Hefner to meet the monarch outside the Australian War Memorial. Hefner was calmly waiting — wearing a crown and a gold bow tie — before leaving the King “in disbelief” with a sneeze after Charles stroked his nose. Mr Fletcher said: “The King just looked in disbelief. But it’s just who Hefner is. He is an alpaca after all. “He doesn’t bite and he doesn’t spit. He’s always on his best behaviour anyway. “And he is a pro-monarchy alpaca.”
King Charles says the Commonwealth mattered 'a great deal' to his mother
King Charles said the Commonwealth mattered “a great deal” his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, who was seen as a unifying figure among the body.
Charles attended his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or Chogm as Britain’s head of state yesterday, where he indirectly acknowledged calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Britain’s handling of its involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is seen by many observers as a litmus test for the Commonwealth’s adaptation to a modern-day world, as other European nations and some British institutions have started to own up to their role in the trade.
The UK has never formally apologized for its role in the trade, in which millions of African citizens were kidnapped and transported to plantations in the Caribbean and Americas over several centuries, enriching many individuals and companies.
Studies estimate Britain would owe between hundreds of millions and trillions of dollars in compensation to the descendants of slaves.
None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to write the inequalities that endure,” said Charles.
Commonwealth slavery reparations debate: What could the UK be asked to pay?
Keir Starmer has faced renewed calls for Britain to pay slavery reparations which could far exceed £200bn as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chgom) in Samoa gets underway.
A group of 15 Caribbean governments, as part of the Caribbean Community or ‘Caricom’ organisation, have all agreed to table reparations on the Chgom agenda when the group meets.
Defying the UK, with Sir Keir saying he does not want to discuss the matter, a draft communique for the summit places it firmly on the agenda, reading: “Heads, noting calls for discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement… agreed that the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity.”
All three candidates for the position of Commonwealth Secretary-General role have supported reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonialism.
Nadine White reports.
Commonwealth slavery reparations debate: What do experts say the UK should pay?
Reparations is expected to be a key talking point in Samoa
King Charles warns against threat of climate crisis
King Charles has warned Commonwealth leaders against the “existential” threat of climate change, encouraging all 56 members to do everything possible to cut emissions.
He told the summit that humanity needed to “forge a future of harmony with nature and between ourselves” and that climate concerns have been raised with him over and over again.
“This year alone we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada,” he told the leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Samoa.
“I can only offer every encouragement for action with unequivocal determination to arrest rising temperatures by cutting emissions, building resilience as far as possible to both the current and forecast impacts of climate change, and conserving and restoring nature both on land and in the sea.”
Indigenous Australian senator intensifies criticism of King Charles III
An Indigenous senator has intensified her criticism of King Charles, again accusing the British monarch of complicity in the “genocide” against Australia’s First Nations peoples and declaring on Wednesday she will not be “shut down.”
Sen. Lidia Thorpe’s comments followed an encounter with the monarch at a parliamentary reception Monday where she was escorted out after shouting at him for British colonizers taking Indigenous land and bones.
Despite facing political and public backlash, Thorpe was resolute in a television interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and said she would continue to press for justice.
Read the full report:
Indigenous Australian senator intensifies criticism of King Charles III
An Indigenous senator has intensified her criticism of King Charles III, again accusing the British monarch of complicity in the “genocide” against Australia’s First Peoples and declaring she will not be “shut down.”
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