King Charles and Queen Camilla caught in torrential rain at Antigua military parade

Rain catches the royal couple

King Charles III (77) and Queen Camilla (79) were in St. John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, to watch a military parade marking the 45th anniversary of the country's independence. The parade took place at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, where a heavy tropical shower opened just as the couple arrived, and neither of them had an umbrella at hand. The downpour lasted only a few minutes, but it left the King visibly soaked in front of the crowd and the troops. Reports describe the couple taking the episode with humour, and the Royal Family later shared a video of the exchange on its official X account.

Camilla sheltered first

Queen Camilla was handed a see-through dome umbrella and hurried to the nearby seats set aside for the royals. The King remained on the small dais, where he threw up his arms, waved toward the people around him and repeatedly asked where the umbrella was. Reports say he appeared to mime holding one, and that he walked a few steps along the red carpet toward Camilla before returning to the platform. The delay was attributed to Antigua's tradition of standing silent during the national anthem, which accounted for the wait until the umbrella could be brought to him. When it finally arrived, the King inspected the troops lined up on the cricket pitch, which had been turned into a parade ground, and he did so under the umbrella. On his return across the grass, the crowd cheered him and he acknowledged them with a wave.

A joke about watercress

Charles joked with Prime Minister Gaston Browne that watercress was about to grow on his clothes, a remark made after the parade. Reports quote him saying he believed the cress would soon be sprouting on his suit. Camilla, for her part, laughed later that the rain had ruined her hairstyle. The exchange with Browne was captured on video, and the Royal Family posted that footage on its official X account.

Commonwealth summit and the slavery question

After the parade, the couple met cricket stars Sir Viv Richards, Sir Richie Richardson, Sir Andy Roberts and Sir Curtly Ambrose, and the King spoke with Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Governor-General Sir Rodney Williams. Antigua and Barbuda is the last stop of a nine-day tour through the Caribbean and South America, following visits to the Bahamas and Guyana, and Camilla joined the King for this final leg. The highlight is the King's speech on Tuesday, 3 November, at the gathering of heads of government of the 56 Commonwealth states in St. John's. Caribbean states have demanded for years that Britain address its role in the transatlantic slave trade between the 17th and 19th centuries and pay reparations, and those demands have become more explicit. According to the palace, the King will speak about the lasting suffering caused by the slave trade but will not formally apologise for it.