The history of royal tours shows why they’re important for the monarchy – despite the risk of uncomfortable questions

By Alice Hunt, Associate Professor in History, University of Southampton

The royal tour of the Caribbean is the king’s first visit to this region of the Commonwealth as monarch. It comes at a time of protests and growing demands for slavery reparations, as well as an apology for the royal family’s historic role in the trade.

The visits will include two republics which do not recognise him as monarch – Guyana and Barbados – and the constitutional monarchies of the Bahamas and Barbados (though all are independent nations).

Against this backdrop, historian Anthony Seldon…

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