An appeal made personally, not to the Crown

Hilary Beckles, who leads the Caricom Reparations Commission, made the king charles reparations appeal at a press conference ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, urging the king to use his influence to advance slavery reparations talks between Britain and the Caribbean.

Beckles stressed that he was addressing Charles personally, not in his role as Commonwealth head or as UK monarch. He said Charles can see the enrichment that slavery has presented to his family, and that he believes the king knows the wealth he is passing on to his children and grandchildren came from chattel slavery.

He urged Charles, as "a human brother", to make the Commonwealth a moral institution committed to human justice, calling it historically the site of this crime.

Growing calls for a formal apology

The appeal lands amid mounting pressure from Caribbean leaders and groups for Charles to formally apologise for slavery when he visits Guyana and the Bahamas next week, before attending Chogm in Antigua.

Among those adding their voices:

• Commonwealth secretary-general Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who said on Thursday that a formal apology from the king "wouldn't hurt" and that the time has come for a serious conversation on reparations.
• Eric Phillips, head of Guyana's reparations committee and vice-chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, who joined the calls for an apology from the king.

Phillips described Charles as a decent, enlightened monarch, saying: "I strongly believe King Charles will want to promote a conversation of decency."

Unfinished wording in the Chogm communique draft

Behind the public appeals sits a dispute over the draft communique for the 2026 summit. David Comissiong, deputy chair of the Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, is concerned about a lack of unanimous agreement on commitments on reparations.

• Comissiong said one paragraph, referencing the dialogue commitment from the Samoa summit and highlighting subsequent developments at the UN, African Union and Caricom, was confirmed.
• A second paragraph, mandating Commonwealth foreign ministers to advance discussions on transatlantic slave trade harms through structured, inclusive and good faith dialogue, had not been unanimously agreed.

Last month, Jamaican officials lodged a landmark petition to King Charles seeking legal advice on its claim for slavery reparations, to be heard by the privy council in March.

Buckingham Palace has pointed to the king's previous statements. A palace spokesperson said Charles has repeatedly expressed his personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and addressing historic wrongs.

Campaigners' plans for the summit

Reparations will not be absent from the summit's margins. Dorbrene O'Marde, chair of the Antigua and Barbuda reparations commission, said campaigners will raise the issue of reparations during the conferences' major forums, with government discussions at their meetings.

O'Marde said the reparations movement will launch a "Global Reparations Caravan" - an international movement combining reparations advocacy, demonstrations and culture - at a separate event on 3 November.

He also expects physical demonstrations despite stringent security, from groups he described as "inflamed" by the blanket statements of no apology coming out of the UK. Statements of no apology from both government and monarchy, he said, reek of gross insensitivity to the demands of the citizens of the Caribbean.

Beckles, for his part, said the absence of a dedicated official Chogm event does not mean reparations will be peripheral. He called the meeting the "Chogm of reparations" and the "first round of reparations negotiations".

Reparatory justice, he said, will be the number one item on the table for everyone attending from the Caribbean and Africa when Chogm opens in Antigua.