King and Queen attend Sunday service in Antigua

The King and Queen were told the voices of small states must be heard for there to be “true partnerships” in the Commonwealth as Caribbean nations welcomed the UK’s offer of slavery apology talks.

Charles and Camilla’s first official engagement of their trip to Antigua for a summit of Commonwealth leaders saw them sit at the head of a congregation for a special Sunday service celebrating the “family of nations”.

Anglican Bishop Ernest Flemming delivered the message and told those gathered, including cricket star Sir Viv Richards and Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, the “prosperity” of the Commonwealth must be a “shared prosperity”.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held every two years, has the theme Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth, but talks are expected to be dominated by discussions of Andy Burnham’s offer to Commonwealth nations to discuss a slavery apology from Britain.

The Prime Minister expressed “my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions” but ruled out considering financial reparations.

The senior cleric, bishop of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, said “… accelerating partnerships must mean more than signing agreements or exchanging promises”.

The King and Queen attending a Sunday church service at St John’s Pentecostal House of Restoration in St John’s, Antigua (Chris Jackson/PA)

PA Wire

He added: “True partnership requires mutual respect, it requires listening, it requires fairness.

“It requires that the voices of small states, young people, women, persons with disabilities, indigenous communities, and those living at the margins are not merely heard ceremonially, but included meaningfully in decision making.

“A genuine partnership does not ask what can I take; it asks what can we build together?”

The St John’s Pentecostal House of Restoration, where the King and Queen attended a Sunday church service (Aaron Chown/PA)

PA Wire

Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley, one of the leading voices pushing for an apology and reparations from Britain, has welcomed Mr Burnham’s offer of dialogue and said she would participate as a member of Caricom – the Caribbean-based political and economic union of states.

She also led a group of Caribbean leaders who launched a new slavery reparations manifesto during a reparations conference held in Ghana in June.

The King and Queen were greeted by Charles’s official representative, Sir Rodney Williams, the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, when they first arrived, and they also shared a few words of welcome with Sir Viv at the church’s door.

The couple proceeded to their seats and a group of young people carrying the flags of the 56 Commonwealth member states filed past them to the altar.

Soprano Desrie Markham, Miss Caribbean Universe 2025, received spontaneous applause for her rendition of the song You Raise Me Up and among the performers was UK pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, whose siblings are all accomplished musicians, including her brother, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Antigua’s prime minister gave a bible reading, as did the Governor-General and prayers were said to “grant discernment, courage, integrity and compassion to all heads of Government”.