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The King said the slave trade “fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow”, but did not issue an apology for the UK’s historic role in it in his highly anticipated Commonwealth speech.

Charles’s opening address at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua today had become of heightened interest after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be “open” to the possibility of the UK formally apologising for its role in slavery.

"Britain is bringing a new approach to this meeting," the prime minister said, in a bid to get ahead of the debate on the thorny issues of reparations which has dominated the build-up to the summit. But the King, who is presiding over the event in his politically neutral role as head of the Commonwealth, did not give the apology many nations had been hoping for.

Instead, he said, “History is not ours to choose or change”, adding: “Our history inspires us, can appall us, yet it can always teach us. We cannot change the actions of those who came before us. We can, however, learn from the past.”

Reflecting on the slave trade, the King acknowledged that it still “casts a shadow over these islands and other Members of our Commonwealth” and highlighted the key role the British Royal Navy played in bringing an end to the abhorrent trade.

Credit: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

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