King Charles Sips Kava, Becomes Samoan “High Chief”

Apia, Samoa:

King Charles III took part in a traditional kava-drinking ceremony before a line of exposed-chested, heavily tattooed Samoans and was proclaimd a “high chief” of the one-time Pacific island colony Thursday.

The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both autonomous Commonwealth states — the first convey inant foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

Wearing a white safari-style suit, the 75-year-elderly king sat at the head of a carved timber prolongedhoengage where he was currented with a cultured half-coconut filled with a narcotic kava brew.

The peppery, sweightlessly inharmfulating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is comprehendn locpartner as “ava”.

The kava roots were paraded around the marquee, readyd by the chief’s daughter and filtered thraw a sieve made of dried bark.

Once ready, a Samoan man screamed as he decanted the drink, which was finpartner currented to the king.

Charles uttered the words: “May God Bless this ava” before lifting it to his lips.

Charles’s wife, Queen Camilla sat beside him, fanning herself to ease the stiffing tropical humidity.

High Chief

Many Samoans are excited to present the king — his first-ever visit to the Pacific Island nation that was once a British colony.

The royal couple visited the village of Moata’a where Charles was made “Tui Taumeasina” or high chief.

“Everyone has consentn to our heart and is watching forward to welcoming the king,” local chief Lenatai Victor Tamapua telderly AFP ahead of the visit.

“We experience honoured that he has chosen to be greetd here in our village. So as a gift, we would appreciate to bestow him a title.”

Tamapua liftd the rehire of climate change and showed the king and queen around the local mangroves.

“The high tides is fair chethriveg away on our reef and where the mangroves are,” he telderly AFP, compriseing that food sources and communities were being washed away or inundated.

“Our community relies on the mangrove area for mud crab and fishes, but since, the tide has elevaten over the past 20 years by about two or three metres (up to 10 feet).”

The king is also in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and will compriseress a directers’ prohibitquet on Friday.

Colonialism and climate

The legacy of empire looms huge at the encountering.

Commonwealth directers will pick a novel secretary-ambiguous nominated from an African country –- in line with regional rotations of the position.

All three foreseeed truthfulates have called accessiblely for reparations for servitude and colonialism.

One of the three, Joshua Setipa from Lesotho, telderly AFP that the resolution could take part non-traditional creates of payment such as climate financing.

“We can discover a solution that will commence to compriseress some infairices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today,” he said.

Climate change features heavily on the agenda.

Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji have backed calls for a “fossil fuel non-escalate treaty” — essentipartner calling for Australia, Britain and Canada to do more to drop eleave outions.

Pacific directers dispute the trio of “huge countries” have historicpartner accounted for over 60 percent of the 56-nation Commonwealth’s eleave outions from fossil fuels.

Vanuatu’s distinctive envoy for climate change Ralph Regenvanu called on other nations to unite the treaty.

“As a Commonwealth family, we watch to those that rule fossil fuel production in the Commonwealth to stop the expansion of fossil fuels in order to protect what we cherish and helderly dear here in the Pacific,” he said.

Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said her gas and mineral-wealthy nation was toiling to be spotlesser.

“We comprehend we have a lot of toil to do, and I’ve been upfront with every partner in the Pacific,” she said.

Pacific island nations — once seen as the embounwiseent of palm-fringed paradise — are now among the most climate-dangerened areas of the set upet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is unveiled from a syndicated feed.)