King Charles III is due to address Commonwealth leaders in Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday on the transatlantic slave trade, Buckingham Palace told BBC News, as the monarch ends a Caribbean tour¹.

The speech is the opening address to representatives of 56 member states at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, The Independent reported³.

A Palace spokesperson told BBC the King would not shy away from shameful aspects of the past and would speak with unflinching honesty and sincere sorrow¹.

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham wrote that he is open to listening to calls for a formal apology by the British state, while ruling out financial reparations, The Independent reported³. BBC said the Palace was told in advance and that the King did not change the speech¹.

CBS News reported earlier in the tour that protesters in the Bahamas demanded compensation and that the Palace said a formal apology is a matter for the government, not the royal family².

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, in a Nov. 1 independence address carried by Antigua News Room, said slavery’s consequences have not disappeared and that talks with the United Kingdom continue at the Commonwealth meeting⁴. BBC also cited Browne on seriousness and international engagement over reparatory justice¹.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told the BBC that endless talk about apologies was a distraction and that the Commonwealth should look forwards¹.

The full text of the Tuesday speech had not been published in the coverage reviewed here^1,3.