T he sun is starting to set in the Bahamas and the loud wash of the tide, which is always audible on Nassau’s Western Esplanade, is beginning to be drowned out by the sound of excited screams. King Charles is visiting the Caribbean archipelago, for which he is still the head of state, for the first time in more than 50 years and a youth rally attended by schoolchildren makes for a particularly welcoming crowd.

Some have described the king’s nine-day tour of the Bahamas, Antigua and Guyana amid growing calls for reparations as a significant risk that may accelerate his removal as head of state from the six remaining Caribbean Commonwealth countries in which he still serves.

King Charles was in the Bahamas before travelling to Antigua for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (Chogm), which is usually a collegial gathering of leaders, but has only just managed to keep enslavement and reparations off the formal agenda .

As the summit gets under way today, the prime minister, Andy Burnham, will begin…