King relishes 'politically charged' deployments, Palace aide says

The King relishes the "tough parts" of his role and will continue to be used in "politically charged situations", a senior palace aide said at the end of the King's tour of the Caribbean. Over the past nine days, the King visited the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda and has been used as "a great secret weapon", the aide said. Questions over whether the UK should apologise and pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade were a theme of the visit.

"I think what we're seeing is a very clear pattern emerging of the government asking the King to head into quite politically charged situations, quite challenging situations," the aide said. "I would say, in the round, this has been a complex visit. It's been challenging.

It's been exhausting," the aide said. "But the takeaway is that it's been very successful and I think the King has demonstrated his statecraft both by word and deed." Most of the King's visits outside the UK have seen him draw on some delicate diplomatic skills on behalf of his government.