King relishes 'politically charged' deployments, Palace aide says

The King relishes the "tough parts" of his role and will continue to be used in "politically charged situations", a senior palace aide said at the end of the King's tour of the Caribbean.

Over the past nine days, the King visited the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda and has been used as "a great secret weapon", the aide said.

Questions over whether the UK should apologise and pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade were a theme of the visit.

"I think what we're seeing is a very clear pattern emerging of the government asking the King to head into quite politically charged situations, quite challenging situations," the aide said.

"We have to tread quite a careful line sometimes between government policy and the King's role."

The leadership of all three countries visited on the Caribbean tour wanted reparatory justice.

"I would say, in the round, this has been a complex visit. It's been challenging. It's been exhausting," the aide said. "But the takeaway is that it's been very successful and I think the King has demonstrated his statecraft both by word and deed."

Most of the King's visits outside the UK have seen him draw on some delicate diplomatic skills on behalf of his government.

In the US, he used his speech to Congress to remind President Donald Trump of the UK's value as an ally.

A year earlier he made a flying visit to Canada to welcome new Prime Minister Mark Carney as the latter faced an onslaught of threats and insults from Trump.

Visits to Germany and France in the early part of the King's reign were designed to establish new UK alliances post-Brexit.

"The King is not just King for the easy parts of the job, but the tough parts of the job, too," said the aide.

"In fact, that's probably the part of the job that he relishes most, whether that's leading on the environment, whether it's renewing and refreshing and reinvigorating relationships with nations where there have been some complex political issues at play, that is what he lives and breathes for."