Charles shakes maracas and joins dancers in carnival parade

The King danced through the streets of Bahamas’ capital after joining a carnival parade and shaking a pair of maracas.

Charles embraced the culture of the Caribbean nation and did not need to be asked twice to step forward and follow performers swaying to the pulsating sounds of a marching band in Nassau’s Parliament Square.

The head of state is known to like to dance and has shimmied to a Samba beat in Brazil and tried ballroom dancing with a partner in New Zealand.

His moves were in contrast to the backdrop of his nine-day tour of the Caribbean, which comes in the wake of renewed calls from island nations for Britain to apologise for its role in selling enslaved people for profit and for reparations.

A few hours after arriving in the Bahamas on Tuesday, he acknowledged the “great suffering of the past” and confirmed Commonwealth leaders will discuss the legacy of slavery at a major summit he will open in Antigua next week.

There was a small protest among the Parliament Square crowds with activists holding placards with the words “Pay us what you owe us”, a reference to reparations but they were quickly moved on by local police.

Charles was treated to a vibrant and colourful demonstration of Bahamas’ Junkanoo festival, normally held on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day with floats and dancers in elaborate costumes and head dresses parading though the streets.

He watched them pass for a few minutes before being given the maracas in Bahama’s national colours and stepped into the parade gently swaying.

Crowds lined crash barriers around the square and before dancing in the streets the King went to meet some of the well-wishers, shaking hands.

The small group of protesters were from the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, and their chair Noelle Nicholls said the King was a symbol of slavery “atrocities”.

“We are demanding an apology for those crimes, and reparations for the harm that was done. So we think it’s important to be present, so that amidst the pomp and pageantry of the celebrations, which are for some people a celebration, are for us also a sombre occasion, because this is the King returning in a way that has still not atoned for the sins of the past.”

Charles went on to hold meetings with the Caribbean nation’s premier Philip Davis, who had joined him for a number of events during the day, and Dame Cynthia Pratt, Bahamas governor-general and his official representative in the country.

Earlier the King commemorated the lives of four Royal Bahamas Defence Force Marines killed when a Cuban MiG fighter aircraft sank HMBS Flamingo in May 1980 after a dispute over illegal fishing by Cuban vessels.

He left a wreath at a memorial dedicated in their honour and met the families of the four men – Fenrick Sturrup, Austin Smith, David Tucker and Edward Williams – and surviving crew member Force Chief Petty Officer Gregory Curry.

Charles ended his day at a garden reception at Government House, the governor-general’s official residence, where he meet Bahamians who have made significant contributions to national life through voluntary, public, community and charitable service.

Laish Boyd, bishop of the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands, led a short prayer before Charles mingled with the guests.

He said: “Thank you for our cherished relationship with the United Kingdom, historically and in the present.

“We celebrate the good that this connection has brought to both of us over the centuries.

“And we recognise that there have been some not so good fruit for both of us.”