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.

ITV News said the speech is the opening address to representatives of 56 member states at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting³. Africanews reported the King met artists and youth groups at Government House on the eve of the gathering².

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. Africanews said the Palace also stressed respect for talks among governments².

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is open to listening to calls for a formal apology by the British state while ruling out financial reparations, ITV News and Africanews reported^2,3. BBC said the Palace was told in advance and that the King did not change the speech¹.

Palace officials told BBC it would not be appropriate for the King to address U.K. government policy¹. Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali said an apology would be the next step, ITV News reported³.

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 welcomed the King and Queen Camilla⁴.

ITV said Charles visited Independence Park in Georgetown, Guyana, where people involved in the 1823 Demerara Rebellion were hanged, before flying to Antigua³.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told the BBC that endless talk about apologies was a distraction and that the Commonwealth should look forwards¹. BBC said the British government has never formally apologized for slavery or offered to pay reparations¹. The full text of Tuesday’s speech had not been released when these accounts were published^1,2,3.