Here are some photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla on Day 2 of their tour of Samoa. They went to the Samoan Cultural Village, where they watched dancing and they were presented with a pig. Charles also got to drink something from a polished coconut shell. I think Charles is a rotten old man, obviously, but seeing how rough he’s looked on this tour has been startling. I would be jet-lagged to hell and I’m a hell of a lot younger, but it doesn’t look like just jet lag. Charles has just aged so much so rapidly this year. Maybe pausing his cancer treatments for this trip wasn’t the best idea too.
Meanwhile, Politico’s European arm published a fascinating piece this week, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Politico’s piece is called “The end of the British Empire.” Some highlights:
The frayed ends of the British empire: As a symbol of the decline of British power, it could hardly be more stark. This week King Charles III will preside over a summit of 55 nations associated with the fraying ends of the British empire. Hosted by Samoa, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), a biennial gathering of state leaders, will also be attended by his Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The British monarch’s convening power is not what it was. Indian PM Narendra Modi and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, two of the most powerful Commonwealth heads of government who would normally be in attendance, both plan to skip this year’s summit in favor of BRICS — a separate gathering of major developing nations hosted by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Kazan, where Chinese President Xi Jinping is also in attendance. Sri Lanka, which is applying to join BRICS this week, is sending neither its prime minister nor foreign minister to Samoa, an official at the High Commission in London said. Not even Canada, a close ally of the U.K. and fellow member of the powerful “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network, will send its prime minister or foreign minister to CHOGM. The head of its delegation will be Ottawa’s high commissioner to the U.K, a Canadian official confirmed.
Keir Starmer cut his own trip short: Even Starmer’s own trip — his first to Britain’s former colonies in the southern hemisphere — has been cut short. A U.K. government official confirmed the PM had scrapped plans to add in a stop in Australia, as aides feared it would keep him abroad for too long ahead of a pivotal government spending package being unveiled in London next week.
Reparations: This year the Commonwealth’s smaller members are demanding more than just goodwill from their hosts. Multiple Caribbean nations have used the run-up to the summit to call for reparations from Britain for the legacy of slavery, with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis calling CHOGM the ideal forum to “make progress.” Nations have been in talks about whether to reflect reparative justice in their communique, to be finalized by leaders Saturday. All three African leaders vying to be the Commonwealth’s new secretary-general — a choice leaders will make Saturday — said last month the issue should broadly be on the table. It is part of a “long history of using Commonwealth summits as a forum to air broader grievances which often have Britain involved,” said Harshan Kumarasingham.
Whether reparations are really on the table: No one really believes the U.K. will hand over reparations worth alternatively £200 billion (according to one leading academic) or £18 trillion (per a United Nations judge). In truth the conversation is moving away from calls for “pure” reparations and toward help combating wider issues like climate change, which hits developing, small and island states hardest. The issue is firmly on the agenda at CHOGM, alongside a declaration for a “sustainable and resilient ocean.” A No. 10 spokesperson insisted the U.K. does not pay reparations and that the issue is simply “not on the agenda.” They said there would be no apology for Britain’s role in slavery at CHOGM.
While Charles seems somewhat committed to carrying on his mother’s legacy of embracing and nurturing Commonwealth ties, I would also assume that Commonwealth nations are looking to the future, and asking themselves if the Commonwealth will still be relevant or any kind of priority in the years to come, especially post-Charles. “King William” clearly does not give a sh-t and will likely oversee the disbanding of the Commonwealth, or at least an extreme minimization in Commonwealth priorities. Yeah… all of this is just…fascinating to watch.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.