Facing 'uncomfortable' questions, King Charles shows the 'soft power' of the Crown

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As King Charles was wrapping up his recent trip to the Caribbean and South America, a palace aide let it be known via news reports that he relishes the "tough parts" of his role as monarch and would keep being used in "politically charged" deployments.

There's little doubt the nine-day sojourn was one of the tougher outings of his four-year reign, shrouded as it was in questions about whether the U.K. should apologize for its role in the transatlantic slave trade and pay reparations.

During the trip that took Charles to Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, he spoke of the "great suffering and injustices of the past" and called the slave trade a "shameful chapter." 

No apology emerged, but U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham indicated as the visit was unfolding that he was open to calls for a formal apology, a marked change in British policy on the issue.

Burnham rejected calls for financial reparations. But writing in the Guardian newspaper, he said he wanted to "launch a new drive on debt," which included helping more vulnerable countries "repay over a longer time period and with better ⁠rates." 

As with trips to Canada in 2025 and the United States earlier this year, Charles was walking something of a diplomatic tightrope at a politically charged time. There seems to be an emerging pattern.

WATCH | Charles reiterates 'personal sorrow' over slavery:

King Charles addresses 'shameful' history of transatlantic slave trade

November 3|

Duration

1:44

"He doesn't seem to shy away from uncomfortable historical questions," royal historian Justin Vovk said in an interview.

"By acknowledging them and navigating them, he's showing that these are real questions that matter to people. They can't be ignored. But also there is that tacit acknowledgment that his interest and recognition and engaging in those conversations does not direct policies of the British government."

Charles seems to be good at creating opportunities for dialogue "when a more overt political initiative or intervention would be counterproductive," Vovk said.

"So he really is demonstrating how effective the soft power of the Crown is for Britain's foreign relations."

Those relations were front and centre in the recent trip. Along with the calls for an apology and questions over reparations, there is republican pressure to remove the monarch as head of state in some countries.

Terrence Campbell, parliamentary leader of Guyana’s opposition group A Partnership for National Unity, holds placards during a demonstration demanding a formal British apology and reparations for slavery and colonialism in Georgetown, Guyana, on Oct. 30. (Isabel Infantes/Reuters)

"It was a very difficult, a very challenging visit," Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scholar and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in southwestern England, said in an interview.  

"But he survived it, and survived it far better when you compare with the [2022] visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to the Caribbean [that] attracted a huge amount of criticism in its aftermath, both in terms of how it was planned and how the events took place."

That trip had been seen by some as a bid to shore up ties between Britain and the Commonwealth countries on its itinerary: Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

In the end, that weeklong visit drew more headlines for protests, the republican sentiment fomenting particularly in Jamaica, calls for slavery reparations and uncomfortable moments that seemed more rooted in the colonial past than looking toward the future. 

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This time, Rowbotham said, Charles made it clear that "as far as he was concerned, it was a matter for the Caribbean communities to make a choice about who should be their head of state."

"He was happy to continue to serve but it was something which he would not fight if they made a different decision."

Charles carried out numerous engagements in the three countries he visited, with many focusing on issues he has made a priority, including the environment and conservation, youth and sustainability.

An Indigenous child, right, presents King Charles, left, with a traditional beaded necklace during a meeting with Indigenous leaders at the National Toshaos Council at Umana Yana on Oct. 30 in Georgetown, Guyana. (Ben Stansall/Getty Images)

Any royal visit has its moments. This one had the umbrella — or initial lack thereof for the King — as the skies opened up in Antigua and Barbuda.

"He was initially clearly taken aback when there was no handy umbrella," Rowbotham said. 

"He subsequently laughed it off and simply carried on," she said, calling it "the mark of a monarch who knows how to be diplomatic in a stressful situation."

WATCH | Where is the umbrella?:

King Charles gets soaked in Antigua as Camilla gets only umbrella

November 2|

Duration

0:45

The moment reminded Vovk of the time Charles got frustrated over a pen holder while signing documents during the ceremony confirming him as monarch in 2022.

"He has certainly gotten better at being able to laugh about those sorts of things." 

Remembering the fallen

Queen Camilla, left, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, right, attend the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London on Nov. 8. (Toby Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Royal Family honoured the memory of the fallen at annual events around London in recent days.

King Charles led the tributes on Remembrance Sunday at a ceremony attended by thousands of veterans at the Cenotaph in central London. While Charles, Prince William and others laid wreaths, Queen Camilla, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and others watched from the balcony of a nearby building.

The night before, Charles and Camilla led senior members of the Royal Family for an evening of remembrance at Royal Albert Hall. 

Princess Anne, front centre, and Prince William attend the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Nov. 8 in London, England. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

A few days earlier, Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, on behalf of Camilla, opened the 98th Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.

The remembrance events are a high point of the royal ceremonial year.

The events were little changed from previous years, something that stood out to Vovk.

"This is where ritual culture becomes so important for reinforcing consistency and values across generations," he said.

"It is something that unites the Crown and the people in memory, in grief, in a sense of responsibility."

Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, centre, looks on during her visit to the 98th Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 5 in London. (Alberto Pezzali/Getty Images)

Meghan's father cut off monitor days after arrest, officials say

Thomas Markle, the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was in custody this week after authorities in Florida said he cut off an ankle monitor days after his arrest on allegations of keeping child sexual abuse materials.

Meghan hasn't commented publicly in recent days, and pulled out of a speech she had been planning to give in Belgium on Tuesday. She appeared that day with her husband, Prince Harry, as he spoke at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Earlier, however, Meghan had said she was "deeply distressed" by the allegations. She also revealed that a letter containing "troubling allegations" about her father had been sent to London police in 2019.

"I was given assurances that these were being investigated," Meghan said of the letter. 

"I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was for one reason: to protect them."

WATCH | Markle charged over child sexual abuse images:

Meghan Markle's father arrested, charged over child sexual abuse images

November 6|

Duration

2:01

Media attention for several years has focused on the estrangement, and observers see the possibility recent events could influence public perceptions around Meghan, which have been polarizing in some quarters.

"I'm sure the British public and the wider public, you know, in the States and elsewhere, will have sympathy for her in regards to what's emerged about her father," royal commentator Roya Nikkah told CBC News.

Vovk sees the current situation could "dramatically shift public perception" of Meghan and could "soften public criticism and public reactions" to her.

• Meghan Markle's father cut off ankle monitor days after arrest, U.S. officials say

• Meghan Markle's father arrested and charged with possessing child sexual abuse material

He also wonders if it might help clear the way for some level of rapprochement between Meghan, Harry and the Royal Family.

"I don't know if I'd say a road to reconciliation, but perhaps an opportunity for some mutual support between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family."

The King and the Rocket Man

Elton John, left, and King Charles pose for a photograph at Apple Music Studios, where they were recording John's Rocket Hour, in London, in October. (Apple Music/Reuters)

It's long been known that King Charles has a love of music, particularly of the classical persuasion. But his latest public musings on the overall matter have little royal precedent.

Charles sat down at a microphone opposite Elton John to take part in a special edition of the singer's show. 

The episode of Elton John's Rocket Hour aired Saturday — Charles's 78th birthday — on Apple Music. It's intended to celebrate 50 years of the King's Trust — founded by Charles with his navy severance pay as the Prince's Trust in 1976 — and musicians who have supported the youth charity.

"Music has ​always been at the heart of the Prince's, and now the King's Trust," Charles said, adding that the program offered a chance to showcase performers who had supported the charity ​and newer artists it had helped launch. 

In a release, Buckingham Palace said the episode also highlights artists — such as the rock band Muse — who received help from the trust at the beginning of their careers, and in some cases went on to support it as alumni.

Muse, which started out in 1994 under the name Rocket Baby Dolls, received a grant from the Prince's Trust to buy sound equipment. In 2018, the band performed a sold-out concert at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the trust.

Charles, left, meets John as he arrives for the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on Nov. 22, 2024. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

Charles and John shared memories of performances by musicians in support of the charity's initiatives — from rock galas at Wembley Arena to concerts in Hyde Park.

"If ⁠you champion a young artist and show you believe in them, it makes all the difference," John said. "Young people are ​our future." 

Vovk saw little precedent for Charles sitting down across the table from John.

"It's potentially groundbreaking. I think this is the first time that the sovereign has done something that would be classified in this way as entertainment," he said.

"To actually sit down and have a recorded conversation with the sovereign is extraordinarily rare. Elizabeth did a few of them in her final years, but these were all about reminiscences around the Crown jewels, coronation ceremony, her father…. To have something that is so, well, mainstream, is really unheard of."

John, second from left, Charles and Tim Cook, Apple's executive chairman, pose with mentees during a music workshop for young peopleat Battersea Power Station in southwest London, on Oct. 7. (Ben Stansall/Reuters)

Royally quotable

"I was told in hospital that my recovery would not be linear. There will be good days and bad days, that it will take time. This is the same in nature."

— Catherine, Princess of Wales, regarding her recovery from cancer. She made the comment in an interview in an issue of Country Life magazine that was guest-edited by her husband, Prince William.

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Prince William has expressed his frustration at the way women are treated in the military. The future head of the British Armed Forces has been holding under-the-radar meetings with female service personnel as part of a drive to ensure they feel "safe, respected and valued." [Daily Mail]

Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall has apologized to tenants for its handling of the sale of an estate in southwestern England and promised new valuations of their farms and homes. [The Observer]

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, told Rohingya refugees in the camps at Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh "we won't walk away" after hearing about the hardships they face. [The Independent]

Prince Harry and five other prominent figures have launched a legal challenge against a judge's verdict in their unsuccessful claims against the Daily Mail's publisher, Associated Newspapers. [The Guardian]

The Princess of Wales met with families gaining extra support for their youngsters' social development at a community hospital in southern England. [ITV] 

The Prince of Wales made another European away trip in support of soccer team Aston Villa as he attended a Champions League match against Barcelona. William was joined by his son, Prince George. [ESPN]

Prince George contributed a colourful drawing of a kingfisher to the edition of Country Life guest-edited by his father. [Country Life]

Catherine, Princess of Wales, left, meets Ruby, nine months old, during a visit to the Chase Community Hospital on Wednesday in Bordon, England. (Aaron Chown/Getty Images)