The shift is subtle but substantial.

The King, where he would once have been in the personal firing line for the reparations conversation, took the role of ringmaster.

“Let us choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect and reject the language of division,” he urged.

On behalf of the UK, Sir Keir Starmer was left to do the heavy political lifting.

In an echo of the King’s words, the Prime Minister said: “We can’t change our history, but we should certainly talk about our history.”

From a starting point of insisting the issue of reparations were “not on the agenda”, Sir Keir is considering non-cash options of helping countries who live with the legacy of slavery, including debt relief.

The pair meet every week for the prime minister’s audience with the King. Just as the late Queen famously came to know “her” prime ministers, 15 in her reign, so the new King is building a relationship with his.

They saw each other at least three times in Samoa: at the opening speech, a gathering for new heads of government and dinner hosted by the King and Queen in the evening.

Their conversation was described by onlookers variously as “warm”, “relaxed” and “friendly”.

Sir Keir told the King it was a “great speech”; the King demurred that it was “very long”.

The British prime minister had had sight of the speech beforehand, with the government and palace working to ensure their messages aligned.

The monarch is not political, sources have consistently emphasised. He does, however, have a chance to encourage and advise those who are.

The King, who has paused his cancer treatment to travel to the summit, was also a man with things on his mind.

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He promised to join the Commonwealth on “every step of this journey – for however many years God grants me”.

Speaking ahead of the World Economic Forum in 2020, he said he would like to be “a peacemaker”.

This was his first, and best, chance to do so.

The Telegraph, London