King Charles will not apologise for slavery on a Caribbean tour a historian calls the 'biggest risk of his reign'

The 77-year-old monarch, still undergoing cancer treatment, is to board the RAF Voyager on Tuesday with Queen Camilla. He will visit the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda in nine days, ending at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He will give three major speeches. Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government has refused to pay reparations.

A senior royal aide said the King would 'not shy away from the darkest days of our past'.

Sir Anthony Seldon warned that 'the moral integrity of the monarchy is being questioned'.

Palace aides fear a repeat of William's 2022 Caribbean tour, branded a 'hot mess of controversy'.