The King jokes he will 'provide an umbrella for you all' at Commonwealth banquet two days after his Antigua drenching

King Charles drew laughter and applause from Commonwealth leaders at a state banquet in Antigua on Tuesday night when he quipped that his role included being ready to "provide an umbrella for you all." The joke capped a nine-day Caribbean tour that also touched on the transatlantic slave trade, with Charles telling presidents and prime ministers the trade "fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow."

The drenching happened on Sunday when Charles arrived at a cricket stadium for Antigua and Barbuda's 45th independence celebrations and was pelted by torrential rain while waiting for an aide to bring an umbrella.

A day earlier, actor Sir Idris Elba — a goodwill ambassador for The King's Trust — apologised for the downpour when the two men met at Nelson's Dockyard; Charles replied: 'My suit has grown watercress.'

The banquet, attended by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, was the final event before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting formally opens.