King Charles III on an official visit to the Caribbean, arriving in the Bahamas. PHOTO

King Charles III's Caribbean tour begins. The British sovereign landed in the Bahamas, the first stop on his trip which will last until November 4th.

The country is one of the few in the Commonwealth of which the English king is still head of state and the welcome was indeed cordial. The next stages in Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, where the monarchy is not frowned upon, will be more delicate.

The state trip of the English monarch, after the simpler first stage, could become more delicate.

In the background, in fact, there is the escalation of requests from various former colonies regarding the recognition of the guilt of the British imperial past on slave trafficking which goes beyond simple historical condemnation and opens the doors to negotiations on the prospect of reparations by today's United Kingdom.

The request for an apology from the former colonies towards the British monarchy therefore also concerns the hypothesis, rejected in recent decades by all the governments in London, of economic reparations.

For the moment, due to the potentially sidereal costs it would entail, the government of incumbent Labor Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also rejected the idea.

A first step, albeit cautious, was taken by King Charles who, after landing in the Bahamas, expressed some words recognizing the "historic injustices" suffered by the former colonies and the "great suffering" inflicted on many by the late British Empire, black slaves first and foremost.

Upon landing, King Charles III was greeted by Dame Cynthia Pratt, who has been Governor General of the Bahamas since 2023.

The British sovereign then joined Philip Edward Davis, prime minister of the country.

The royal journey began solo for King Charles. His wife Camilla, however, will join him on the last stage of the tour where the two will preside, at the beginning of November, the biennial summit of the leaders of the Commonwealth, an organization born from the ashes of the former Empire.

Meanwhile, continuing his journey, the monarch will move to Guyana tomorrow.

The leader of the former colony, however, also made references to the hypothesis of historical reparations for slave trafficking. "Acknowledging the dark days of the past is a first step: an apology must be the next step," Irfaan Ali said.

Street protests against the monarchy are not ruled out in the coming days. In Antigua, among the last stops of the tour, protests are expected on the topic of slavery in the past.

King Charles, in any case, does not intend to let the trip pass without touching the subject.

Already in recent weeks Buckingham Palace had recalled the position of the sovereign who on other occasions in the past denounced the slavery of the imperial period, defining it as "an indelible stain" in the history of his country.