King Charles and Camilla traveling to the Caribbean, surprised by the rain in Antigua and Barbuda PHOTO

King Charles III has arrived in Antigua, one of the two main islands that form the Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda and the third stop on his state trip to the Caribbean.

Here the sovereign was welcomed with full honors despite fears of possible protests and some small setbacks: in the background of the tour, in fact, there is the escalation of requests from various former colonies of the British Empire which ask for recognition of the sins of the past, in particular regarding the slave trade.

The trip began on October 28: a nine-day tour that began in the Bahamas and will see the sovereign busy until November 4.

After the first days of solo travel, with stops in the Bahamas and Guyana, King Charles was joined by his wife in Antigua yesterday. Queen Camilla has landed in Saint John's, the island's capital.

The two sovereigns yesterday took part in a religious service and then in a parade to celebrate the Independence Day of the small archipelago.

During the celebrations the participants were surprised by a typical tropical downpour.

During the storm, as shown by video images that went viral on the web and in the British media, the sovereign seemed to lose patience for a few moments with his staff who did not promptly protect the King and Queen from the rain.

Carlo then, umbrella in hand, completed the greeting tour of the local armed forces with his clothes visibly soaked by the water from the storm.

An inconvenience which, however, the monarch himself then joked about, joking in favor of the cameras with the local prime minister, Gaston Browne, at his side at the time of the episode.

Browne for his part had warm words towards the king.

However, in Browne's speech for Independence Day, there was no shortage of references both to the hope for a solemn British apology for the slavery of the past and to the ambition of his country (which still recognizes the monarch of the house of Windsor as head of state) to transform itself into a republic.

The last former colony to secede from Britain and become a republic was Barbados in 2021.

The trip to the Caribbean coincided with an important event, the summit of Commonwealth leaders which will open tomorrow, November 3, in Antigua.

The meeting will be opened and chaired by King Charles who, as announced in recent days by Buckingham Palace, intends to touch on the topic of slavery with "resolute honesty" and "sincere regret".

However, the formal apology that the former British colonies expect to receive is not expected despite the fact that British Labor Prime Minister Andy Burnham opened an unprecedented window of opportunity over the weekend compared to all his predecessors. The prime minister, however, reiterated London's no to the financial reparations requested by the Caribbean countries.