A hot-button issue in many Commonwealth countries is the issue of reparations, and government’s in the Caribbean have estimated the total would reach $24 trillion – 10 times the UK’s GDP.
Baroness Scotland, secretary-general of the Commonwealth, says the organisation “will always play a role in that conversation”.
She notes that the King raised the issue when he represented the late Queen in Kigali, and said at the time the conversation had to be started.
“The leaders [of Commonwealth countries] are the ones who determine what and how that conversation takes place,” she says, and adds there will be such a meeting in Samoa in October where it could be discussed.
Asked why the King did not apologise for slavery, she says he “made clear” it is a matter of “great sorrow” to him, and he is continuing to learn about it.
“I think it was good he did that,” she adds.
King being chosen as Commonwealth head is ‘the only election he’s ever had’
The final guest on this morning’s edition of Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips is Baroness Scotland, secretary-general of the Commonwealth.
She starts by saying it is “really sad” that the King will not be able to celebrate Commonwealth Day with her tomorrow.
“The Commonwealth has been around actually for as long as the King has been around, and he’s been devoted to it and part of it for his whole life, so I’m sure that there is going to be a bit of sadness that he can’t be with us.”
But she says the “warmth and love” expressed since his cancer diagnosis shows “how important he is for them”.
The King did not automatically become head of the Commonwealth when Queen Elizabeth II died – he was selected by the leaders of those countries because, she says, “of all the work he’d done for all those years”.
She quips that “it’s the only election he’s ever had”.
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