King Charles III faced growing demands for reparations for Britain's colonial past on Friday, at the Commonwealth Summit in the South Pacific archipelago of Samoa, against a backdrop of heated debate over the legacy of slavery and empire.
The monarch attended the summit of leaders of the 56 Commonwealth Member States with the aim of bringing the organisation inherited from the British Empire into the modern age.
However, discussions on the fight against climate change were overshadowed by history at his first Commonwealth summit as sovereign.
Many ACP countries want European nations to pay reparations for slavery
Many African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations want the UK and other European powers to pay financial compensation for slavery or at least make political amends.
It is time for the Commonwealth to demand justice for the brutal period of slavery suffered by many countries in the group, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis told French news agency AFP on Friday. "The time has come to have a real dialogue about how we address these historical wrongs," Mr Davis said.
The Commonwealth was originally made up of the UK and former British colonies such as Nigeria and Ghana in Africa, Jamaica in the Caribbean, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific, and Canada in North America.
However, it has since expanded to include countries such as Togo and Gabon - two former French colonies - Mozambique, a former Portuguese possession, and Rwanda, which used to be part of the Belgian colonial empire.
'A responsibility to face the past with honesty'
Some countries hoped the summit, which ends on Saturday, would commit to opening a discussion on the subject of reparations, a debate the UK has so far tried to avoid.
"Reparatory justice is not an easy conversation, but it is an important one," Davis told AFP. "Our history is deeply intertwined, and with that comes a responsibility to face the past with honesty."
"The horrors of slavery left deep, generational wounds in our communities, and the fight for justice and reparatory justice is far from over," the Bahamian Prime Minister said.
Over four centuries, an estimated 10 to 15 million Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas, according to historians, although the exact human toll remains unknown.
'Finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure'
The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade for centuries, has been asked to apologise. However, King Charles III refrained from doing so on Friday, calling on summit participants to "reject the language of division."
"I understand from listening to people across the Commonwealth how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said. “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 the inequalities that endure.”
A draft summit communiqué calling for a debate on colonialism has been the subject of fierce negotiations. "The developed countries have tried to water down the terms of the final communiqué," a diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Reparations in the form of funding for climate change?
"The call for reparations isn't simply about financial compensation; it's about recognising the enduring impact of centuries of exploitation and ensuring that the legacy of slavery is addressed with honesty and integrity," Philip Davis insisted.
Joshua Setipa of Lesotho, one of three candidates in the running for Commonwealth secretary-general, said reparations could include alternative forms of payment, such as climate change funding. "We can find a solution that addresses some of the injustices of the past and puts them into the context that surrounds us today," he told AFP ahead of the summit.
On Saturday, the British monarch completes an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, two independent Commonwealth states.
This is his first major trip abroad since announcing his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
