Image source, Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images

By Daniela Relph

Senior royal correspondent

Royal tours are unpredictable beasts.

The planning is meticulous and dates back months, sometimes years, but there is always jeopardy.

King Charles III's visit to the Caribbean, which starts on Tuesday, takes him to three countries in nine days: the Bahamas, Guyana and finally Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm).

It also throws him directly into the heat of the debate over the payment of reparations - compensation from countries that took part in the slave trade - alongside questions of whether the King should be apologising for the UK's role in what he has previously described as an "appalling atrocity" that leaves an "indelible stain" on history.

"This is the biggest risk of his reign so far with so much just outside of his control," said author and historian Sir Anthony Seldon.…