Key facts
- A senior royal aide called King Charles "a great secret weapon" the government uses for challenging diplomatic situations.
- The aide said there is a clear pattern of the government asking the King to head into politically charged situations.
- The aide said the King can reach parts that politicians "probably couldn't quite have reached".
- The aide said the palace was told about the government's shift on slavery reparations in a timely manner.
- The aide said the royal family serves when it is wanted and a new arrangement can be found if not.
A senior royal aide said on November 5, 2026 that King Charles is "a great secret weapon" the UK government increasingly uses for challenging diplomatic situations, speaking at the end of the King's nine-day tour of the Caribbean. The King visited the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, and questions over whether the UK should apologise and pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade were a theme of the visit.
"I think what we're seeing is a very clear pattern emerging of the government asking the King to head into quite politically charged situations, quite challenging situations," the aide said. "We have to tread quite a careful line sometimes between government policy and the King's role." The aide said the leadership of all three countries visited wanted reparatory justice and described the visit as complex, challenging and exhausting but very successful.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said midway through the tour that he was open to the UK apologising for its role in the slave trade, which the aide said intensified the conversations. The aide dismissed any suggestion that Buckingham Palace was surprised or blindsided by the shift, saying the palace was told about it in a "timely manner". Asked directly whether the King would apologise for slavery, the aide laid out the chain of command in a constitutional monarchy: "The King is the crown, the crown is the state, the state is run by an elected government, so we have to see how this whole situation plays through."
The aide said the King and Burnham get on very well and that the King has had four prime ministers since the start of his reign in 2022. The tour included about 40 engagements, many carried out in temperatures of around 35C with stifling humidity, and the King, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, will be 78 years old next week.
In Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne hosted the King and Queen but wants major change, including moving his country towards becoming a republic, and said he wanted to see "structured, inclusive dialogue on the enduring consequences of slavery and colonialism". The aide said the royal family serves when it is wanted and a new arrangement can be found if not.