King underlines peacemaker role as reparations row hangs over Commonwealth summit
When the King stood up to deliver his first speech as head of the Commonwealth, expectations were high.
In Samoa, in front of Commonwealth leaders, he was – for the first time – following in the footsteps of his revered late mother, Elizabeth II.
The issue of slave trade reparations hung heavily over the summit, with campaigners clear that they will not accept anything less than a full official apology from the UK and reparations payments that could run into the trillions of pounds.
The pressure to address it was huge. Having expressed “personal sorrow at the suffering of so many” previously, at the 2022 summit when he was Prince of Wales, he was expected to say more or less the same.
Instead, he took a slightly different tack.
The King positioned himself in listening mode, delegating the job of discussing the details to political leaders and urging them to do so productively.
“None of us can change the past,” he told delegates. “But we can commit, with all our hearts, to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.”
This was the King as a statesman, a palace source said, articulating the purpose of the Commonwealth – to convene, to talk, to solve – in the world today.
The shift is subtle, but substantial.
The King, where he would once have been in the personal firing line for the reparations conversation, took the role of ringmaster.
“Let us choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect, and reject the language of division,” he urged.
On behalf of the UK, Sir Keir Starmer was left to do the heavy political lifting.
In an echo of the King’s words, the Prime Minister said: “We can’t change our history, but we should certainly talk about our history.”
From a starting point of insisting the issue of reparations were “not on the agenda”, Sir Keir is now considering non-cash options of helping countries who live with the legacy of slavery, including debt relief.
The pair meet every week for the Prime Minister’s audience with the King. Just as the late Queen famously came to know “her” Prime Ministers, 15 in her reign, so the new King is building a relationship with his.
They saw each other at least three times in Samoa: at the opening speech, a gathering for new Heads of Government and dinner hosted by the King and Queen in the evening.
Their conversation was described by onlookers variously as “warm”, “relaxed” and “friendly”.
Sir Keir told the King it was a “great speech”; the King demurred that it was “very long”.
The Prime Minister had had sight of the speech beforehand, with the Government and palace working to ensure their messages aligned.
The monarch is not political, sources have consistently emphasised. He does, however, have a chance to encourage and advise those who are.
The King, who has paused his cancer treatment to travel to the summit, was also a man with things on his mind.
He promised to join the Commonwealth on “every step of this journey” – “for however many years God grants me”.
Speaking ahead of the World Economic Forum in 2020, he said he would like to be “a peacemaker”.
This was his first, and best, chance to do so.
