King Charles spent Wednesday on the streets of Nassau with a pair of cowbells, painted in the colours of the Bahamas flag, at the head of a Junkanoo parade. He was in a suit and sunglasses. The dancers wore feathered headdresses. The crowd cheered. It was the photograph of the second day of his Caribbean tour, and it landed in the middle of a louder argument about slavery, apology and money.
The morning had been formal. He laid a wreath at the Flamingo Monument for fallen members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. Later he visited the Bahamas Boxing Academy and was given a T-shirt printed with an image of him wearing a champion's belt. Between those duties came the parade, a traditional carnival of the islands, and the pictures that travelled furthest.
What he has said about the past
The tone was set on Tuesday, when he arrived for his first visit as King of the Bahamas. In Nassau he said it was "only right" to acknowledge "the great suffering and injustices of the past in these islands and beyond". He added that some of what is best in Bahamian culture today, "the most joyful, the most hopeful, the most bright", was "born out of darkness". Commonwealth leaders are due to discuss the same history at their summit next week.
Buckingham Palace has indicated that he will address the subject during the tour and will not offer a formal apology. That matches British government policy, which also rules out financial reparations. A palace spokesperson said the visit would focus on modern partnerships and opportunities, and that for the King it is also part of a lifelong effort to engage with "the most shameful aspects of our past".
The Tour, Day by Day
- Tuesday: arrival in Nassau, and a speech acknowledging the suffering and injustices of slavery.
- Wednesday: a wreath at the Flamingo Monument, the boxing academy, and the Junkanoo.
- Guyana is next. The Queen joins him in Antigua and Barbuda for CHOGM.
- The Commonwealth has 56 members. Regional leaders want reparations on the agenda.
The protest, and the court case behind it
Not everyone in Nassau was there to cheer. Members of the islands' Rastafarian community and others demonstrated near Clifford Park, where the King met students. One woman called out: "Pay us what you owe us." She said she stood in memory of the horrors and atrocities committed against black people.
The demand is not new, and it is no longer only a slogan at a rope line. Jamaica has taken a reparations claim forward, and that case has been referred to the island's highest court of appeal in Britain. Caribbean governments are expected to press the point at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. Campaigners want an apology, financial compensation, and the return of cultural objects. London has refused the first two, and the Palace is not going to break that line on this tour.
Where the tour goes next
He leaves the Bahamas for Guyana, then Antigua and Barbuda, where Queen Camilla joins him for the summit. The nine-day programme was set out before he flew, and the first hours in Nassau are in our account of the arrival. What Wednesday added was the picture, the cowbells and the parade, and a reminder that the speech about the past is travelling with him whether the official programme calls the visit a modern partnership or not.
A King can dance in the street and still be asked, at the next garden reception, to go further than his government will allow. That is the shape of this week. The Junkanoo was joyful. The argument at the rope line was not a sideshow. It is the subject CHOGM is about to inherit.