Charles gets a warm welcome on his first visit as king to Samoa. But uneasy questions await

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave as they arrive in the village of Siumu, Samoa, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

SIUMU, Samoa — In the dark, dozens of people lined a narrow road near the Samoan fishing village of Siumu, gathering near a sign bearing a portrait of King Charles III and waiting excitedly for a glimpse of the real monarch.

A buzz surged through the crowd as a motorcade appeared Wednesday, bearing the first British king to visit a Pacific Island nation.

Hands waved briefly from rolled-down windows and those standing in just the right spot managed to catch a glimpse of the king's face. Then the monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, were gone. The royals had arrived earlier Wednesday evening from a visit to Australia.

“All people in Samoa are very excited,” said Numio Faoagali, a garbage collector from Siumu who had spent three days cleaning and decorating his house with a Union flag and bunting. He hoped that Charles, who is staying at a resort nearby, might see it.

“It’s the first time to see the king. We’ve only seen him on the TV, not here in Samoa," he said.

Charles is expected to helm a major meeting of leaders from Commonwealth countries in Samoa, including many that once had colonial ties to Britain. His presence is likely to prompt uneasy questions -– as it did in Australia -- about the role of the British crown in the histories and aspirations of its former territories.

But on Wednesday, his visit provoked delight too.

Locals were thrilled their village was picked to host the monarch and congregated two hours early on Wednesday to await his arrival. Madeleine A. Tofaeono-Galo said her cousin, who lived on the other side of the island, was travelling to Siumu “just to see the king.”

As Apia, the capital, bustled with final preparations to welcome Charles, other world leaders and more than 3,000 delegates to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, enthusiasm focused on the global spotlight the monarch's presence might shine on the island nation of 218,000 people.

“We are excited as a one in a lifetime opportunity,” the paramount chief of Siumu, Ataona Tusi Fafetai, told The Associated Press.

“We have pride in our core values, as in hospitality, respect and love and caring for our people,” he added. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show the world that who we are and what we are as people and our identity as Samoan.”

It’s the first time a Pacific Island has hosted the biennial leaders’ summit. More than half of the Commonwealth's members are small countries like Samoa, many of them island nations among the world’s most imperiled by rising seas.

Climate change will occupy much of the summit's agenda. Charles has championed awareness of the problem for decades, and leaders are expected to agree to an Ocean Declaration pledging fresh, but as yet unspecified, commitments.

“We need support to properly lower the greenhouse effect over our Pacific islands,” said Fafetai, the chief. The summit was not only for “unity and awareness”, he added, but to “come up [sic] some solutions that will help us.”

The forum will test the ability of the group of nations from across the globe, with divergent political interests and economic fortunes, to align on matters of substance. It is likely to face uncomfortable, existential questions too.

The Commonwealth is seen by some as a vestige of empire with an uncertain mission in the 21st century, and discussions about colonization among its members have intensified in recent years. All three candidates to become the organization’s next Secretary-General -– from Ghana, Lesotho and Gambia -– have urged financial reparations for the past enslavement of colonized people.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is attending the summit, has faced pressure from some lawmakers in the governing Labour Party to consider the prospect. But his government says it is not up for discussion.

“Reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,” Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, said ahead of the summit. “The government’s position has not changed. We do not pay reparations.”

Britain would not be offering an apology for slavery at the summit, Pares said. He also rejected suggestions that the Commonwealth's importance has diminished.

The summit would “bring together delegations from 56 countries representing a combined market for British business set to be worth $19.5 trillion by 2027,” Pares said.

There will be some notable absences from the event, however.

The leaders of the two biggest Commonwealth nations, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, are attending a meeting of the BRICS developing nations hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also cancelled his trip to Samoa as he faces political woes at home.

Among a group of countries more disparate and unequal than before, observers will be assessing whether Charles can be the unifying figure that his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, once was.

“The Commonwealth, I think he knows, was one of the most important things that his mother did,” said Anna Whitelock, professor of history of the monarchy at City, University London. “Not only keeping this Commonwealth of countries together, but actually retaining a sort of spirit of community and cooperation and relevance in a world where there’s so many other power blocs and challenges.”

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka contributed from London.