As royal headaches go, the coming days could make Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor or the daily dramas chez Sussex look like welcome distractions.
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Windsor → go → distractions
Today, the King embarks on a Caribbean tour which will require all of his considerable diplomatic powers.
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which → embark → powers
But will it be enough to avert a proper constitutional crisis?
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it → avert → crisis
For he finds himself stuck in the centre of an emotionally charged debate on colonial legacy.
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himself → find → legacy
He arrives as King of several ex-colonies, as Head of a Commonwealth comprising many more and also as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
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He → arrive → England
The latter is now bitterly divided over paying upwards of £100 million in compensation for disputed slavery links.
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latter → divide → links
With crumbling buildings, many debt-laden parishes are up in arms against a Church establishment now being advised by a 'lawyer-activist' who describes herself as a 'Pan-Afrikanist [sic] and ourstorian' in favour of 'revolutionary warfare'.
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who → crumble → warfare
The principal bone of contention is whether the King should issue a formal apology for Britain's role in the slave trade.
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King → issue → trade
Aside from the question of whether someone can apologise for something they did not do 250 years ago – and the King has repeatedly voiced his sorrow for the 'horror' of slavery – everyone is acutely aware that an apology would be a cliff-edge moment.
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apology → apologise → slavery
For it would set in motion a legal liability juggernaut involving claims for up to £18 trillion and an international diplomatic pile-on against the UK with one guaranteed outcome back in Britain: a serious blow to community cohesion.
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it → set → cohesion
Charles and Camilla pose for photos during a Caribbean tour in 2019
Guyana's President Mohamed Irfaan Ali (left) has urged King Charles to issue an 'apology' over slavery
Hence Andy Burnham's position that he will advise the King to do no such thing.
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he → pose → thing
However, in many of those nations calling for an apology, he is their King, too.
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he → call → apology
It is all very well for the monarch to deflect any awkward questions to his British Prime Minister and his Foreign Secretary.
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monarch → deflect → Minister
But what if, say, the King's Jamaican prime minister formally advises the King of Jamaica to say sorry?
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minister → say → Jamaica
The monarch will then face a genuine constitutional crisis.
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monarch → face → crisis
The tour kicks off tonight in the Bahamas (he is King there, too) where the PM Philip Davis has previously called on Britain to have a 'come to Jesus' moment and face up to its colonial obligations.
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PM → kick → obligations
The King moves on to Guyana, a former British colony which gained independence in 1966 and then swapped the late Queen for a president in 1970.
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which → move → 1970
Affection for the Royal Family remained, as I saw for myself covering the late Queen's state visit in 1994 when the 25-mile route from the airport into the capital Georgetown was packed with wellwishers.
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route → remain → wellwishers
Returning with Prince Charles in 2000, I saw him treated as an environmental hero (this is one of the most densely forested nations in the world).
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this → return → world
Its current president, Irfaan Ali, has long praised the King's work in that regard.
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president → praise → regard
Yet Mr Ali has now declared that Britain must acknowledge 'the underdevelopment that took place as a result of slavery' and says: 'Moving to the apology is the next step.'
The tour concludes in Antigua and Barbuda, where the King will open the summit of 56 nations of the Commonwealth.
The Royal Family remains very popular in Antigua.
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Family → declare → Antigua
The long-serving governor-general Sir Rodney Williams is an old friend of the King and Queen.
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general → serve → King
The prime minister, Gaston Browne, however, is the man who will be hosting the summit and he has pledged to put 'reparatory justice' at the top of the agenda.
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he → host → agenda
Furthermore, to considerable surprise within royal circles, the new secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Shirley Botchwey, has lent her support for an apology.
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general → lend → apology
'It wouldn't hurt to have that,' she told Sky News.
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she → hurt → News
Indeed, she went further by supporting the idea of 'financial reparations or reparations in kind'.
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she → go → kind
As an ex-foreign minister of Ghana, Ms Botchwey is at odds with her old boss, former Ghanaian president John Kufuor, who has always been very wary of demanding apologies.
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who → demand → apologies
'I assure you, if you come to Africa you will see that there were some very local participants in the [slave] trade,' he has said.
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he → assure → trade
'So we have to be careful.'
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we → have → ?
Ms Botchwey's remarks also run counter to her previous messaging that member states must look forward if the Commonwealth wants to be relevant.
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Commonwealth → run → messaging
A one-time powerhouse in the vanguard of dismantling white rule in Rhodesia and apartheid in South Africa, the Commonwealth has done nothing of note in recent years.
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Commonwealth → dismantle → years
Since it includes almost a third of the world's population, every faith across every continent and nations both vast (India) and tiny (Tonga), it has a unique voice.
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it → include → voice
With a shared language, plus common legal and parliamentary systems, it is a great network, which is why so many nations still want to join and why its business and civic conferences are always packed.
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conferences → share → language
Yet, at governmental level, it struggles to be taken seriously.
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it → struggle → level
As one Commonwealth insider has told me, the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has 'long forgotten what the C stands for'.
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C → tell → what
However, it could still be a formidable 'influencer' on issues such as climate change, debt relief and Chinese imperialism if it got its act together.
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it → get → act
The Council of Geostrategy, a think-tank on UK foreign policy, has just published an intriguing paper showing that 2027 could be a golden opportunity for the Commonwealth.
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2027 → publish → Commonwealth
Next year, Britain assumes the presidency of the G20 group of top economic powers.
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Britain → assume → powers
It just so happens that two other major blocs – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the African Union – also have a Commonwealth nation at the helm next year (Singapore and Ghana).
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blocs → happen → helm
In his paper, the think-tank's Francis Shin says that if the Commonwealth and Andy Burnham were to use this month's summit to assemble a 'C7' of key Commonwealth nations, it could speak with great global authority on so many key issues.
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it → say → issues
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
