King Charles likely to lose more territory after foreign visit

King Charles’ visit to Kenya comes as pressure mounts in some Caribbean Commonwealth countries to remove the British monarch as head of state, and republican voices in the UK grow louder.

The calls for his removal are expected to grow after he stopped short of apologizing for Britain’s colonial past. 

More than a dozen nations out of the Commonwealth grouping of 56 countries still recognise the UK monarch as head of state.

But clamour to become a republic is growing, including in Jamaica and Belize, after Barbados made the switch in 2021.

 King Charles said on Tuesday he felt the “greatest sorrow and deepest regret” for atrocities suffered by Kenyans during their struggle for independence from British colonial rule.

But in a speech at the start of a four-day state visit to Kenya, he stopped short of making a full apology called for by survivors of that period and local rights groups who are pressing for reparations from the British government.

Many citizens of former British colonies, including leaders of Kenya’s Nandi people, want Charles to directly apologise and endorse reparations for colonial-era abuses, including torture, killings and expropriation of land, much of which remains in British hands.