The King is visiting The Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda starting on Oct. 27, partly with Queen Camilla

NEED TO KNOW

• Reparations campaigner Laura Trevelyan says King Charles must move beyond acknowledgement to action as he begins his royal tour in the Caribbean
• The former BBC reporter tells PEOPLE that the monarch can find a way to “do something that is meaningful and not just make an elegant speech”
• Palace aides say that King Charles’ tour itinerary will “not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past’ “

King Charles is a “deft student of history” and has the tools to both navigate the reparations for slavery debate in the Caribbean and help come up with some answers, a former BBC reporter and campaigner says.  

The King, 77, lands in The Bahamas on Oct. 27, amid calls for Britain to both apologize and compensate for its role in the evil slave trade that forcibly shipped Africans to the Caribbean.

An apology for Britain’s historical role is unlikely to be forthcoming, in line with British government policy to which the monarch must adhere. However, palace aides say that King Charles’ tour itinerary will “not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past,’ as His Majesty has described them.”

But reparations campaigner Laura Trevelyan — who quit her job at the BBC in 2023 after discovering her ancestors owned more than 1,000 slaves in Grenada — believes that he is well-placed to take some steps to meet some of the arguments head-on. Trevelyan refers to King Charles’ well-received speech to the Joint Session of Congress in Washington, D.C., in April, when the monarch “managed to lower the temperature” over a row about the Iran war and remind Americans of the special relationship and the strength of the North Atlantic alliance and other issues.

Trevelyan, who made reparations of her own in recognition of her own ancestors’ role in the slave trade, tells PEOPLE, “This is similarly complicated. In the Caribbean, he is the symbol of Britain’s entangled past with that region, and he personally is a symbol because the royal family at the inception of slavery endorsed it through the East African Company.”

Noting that King Charles is a “deft student of history” who can find a way to “do something that is meaningful and not just make an elegant speech,” she urges him to move beyond acknowledgement to action. The King is a famed environment and climate advocate, and she believes he could encourage projects that aren’t “reparations but are more than a speech that acknowledges the pain of the past.”

With the Caribbean undergoing an “existential crisis” caused by global and sea warming, the islands are getting hotter and the hurricane seasons more treacherous. “He could announce through his King’s Fund, for example, that he is furthering climate research there so we can better understand the conditions people are living in and look to a better future,” Trevelyan suggests.

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In Guyana, King Charles will spend time with President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who is a known backer for economic reparations to the region. Referring to an interview President Ali gave to ITV News recently, his government’s website said there must be “recognition of [slavery’s] atrocities must lead to practical measures that address the lasting consequences for nations whose development was severely disrupted.”

Trevelyan — who has written a book called Entangled Past with historian Nicole Philip, a member of Grenada’s Reparations Commission — says the British government could provide development money in the name of reparations to pay for much-needed infrastructure. “The Caribbean needs help making the roads and houses that are able to withstand the greater storms that are bearing down,” Trevelyan adds.

“The idea that the past is long dead is just not true. In the Caribbean, it’s very much defining the present. Isn’t there a way over generations to pledge money over 20 years that avoids corruption and presented as British people repaying a historical debt?”

The Guyana visit comes ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda where Charles will be joined by Queen Camilla, 79, from Nov. 1 to 4 — and face even more political leaders.

King Charles will not be able to weigh in on any decision to change policy, but he has spoken before of the evils that “forever stain our history,” those close to him point out.

Sources at the palace and in the U.K. government have reiterated that whatever his personal views, the King’s constitutional position means he has to follow the advice of the government. If the policy is that there will be no apology, then the monarch will not be able to articulate one. But the tour will also “be oriented to the vibrant present and promising future of each country, with visit programs developed in close consultation with their governments to reflect their individual priorities,” the palace spokesman said recently.

King Charles last visited the Caribbean in 2021, when he traveled to Barbados to see the country officially remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic.

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