RUSSELL MYERS: 'King Charles' speech did not shy away from horrors of slavery - but stopped short of apology'

The King faced down calls for an apology for slavery today by reminding the world that Britain, and the Royal Navy in particular, helped bring the transatlantic trade to an end. Amid calls for apologies for slavery from across the Caribbean and beyond, and a chorus of pleas for reparations, Charles chose to declare that evil need not have the last word. The world had been watching and waiting for what the monarch had to stay and for those leaders across the region who have openly challenged the existence of his role as head of state, it was not what they wanted to hear. In his opening address to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua, Charles insisted that despite the conversations surrounding past actions, the world should remember that character and courage had combined to overcome the most monstrous injustice. It was a carefully chosen line, delivered to a room of leaders, many of whom had spent the past week demanding that Britain say sorry. Perhaps the King and his aides were addressing an audience at home. Yet, Charles did not shy away from the horror of the most appalling time in our history. He repeated his belief that this shameful chapter fills his heart with horror and his soul with the most profound personal sorrow. He acknowledged that the trade still casts a shadow over these islands and other Commonwealth nations, and insisted that while history is not ours to choose or to change, we can learn from it. He spoke of addressing the wrongs of the past with action for the future, through education, jobs, trade and climate resilience. Words of sorrow, however, are what he has offered before, in Kigali, in Barbados and in Nassau only a week ago. For those who came to Antigua hoping for more, today will feel like a familiar disappointment. Despite Andy Burnham - whose openness to an apology raised expectations so sharply on the eve of the summit, and resulted in him having to respond to claims that he made things difficult for the King - nothing had changed. Charles acts on the advice of his government and cannot get ahead of it. Mr Burnham may be open to an apology, but he has not asked the King to deliver one, and he has ruled out reparations entirely. That leaves a deeper question hanging over this reign. Philip Davis in the Bahamas and Gaston Browne here in Antigua have both spoken openly about becoming republics. Jamaica has addressed a reparations petition directly to the King. Caribbean nations have made clear this is not a campaign that will fade once the royal plane departs. Until a British government decides otherwise, the demands for an apology and reparations will remain unanswered, and Charles will carry them with him to every Commonwealth summit and every Caribbean tarmac for the rest of his reign. He has gone further than any monarch before him. For the countries he still calls his own, it may never be far enough.