King Charles sips Kava, becomes Samoan ‘Supreme Chief’

King Charles III took part in a traditional kava-drinking ceremony in front of a line of bare-chested, heavily tattooed Samoans and was named “Supreme Chief” of the one-time Pacific island colony on Thursday.

The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth nations, the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

Dressed in a white safari-style suit, the 75-year-old king sat at the head of a longhouse of carved wood, where he was presented with a polished half-coconut filled with the narcotic brewed kava.

The peppery, slightly intoxicating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is known locally as ‘ava’.

Kava roots were paraded around the tent, prepared by the chief’s daughter and strained through a sieve made of dried bark.

Once it was ready, a Samoan man shouted as he decanted the drink, which was finally presented to the king.

Charles uttered the words, “God bless this ava,” before raising it to his lips.

Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, sat beside him, fanning herself to relieve the stifling tropical humidity.

Supreme Commander

Many Samoans are excited to host the king – his first visit to the Pacific island nation, which was once a British colony.

The royal couple visited the village of Moata’a, where Charles was named “Tui Taumeasina” or High Chief.

“Everyone has taken us to heart and is looking forward to welcoming the king,” local chief Lenatai Victor Tamapua told AFP ahead of the visit.

“We are honored that he has chosen to be welcomed here in our village. So we would like to give him a title as a gift.”

Tamapua raised the issue of climate change and showed the King and Queen the local mangroves.

“The tides are just eating away at our reef and where the mangroves are,” he told AFP, adding that food sources and communities were washed away or flooded.

“Our community relies on the mangrove area for mud crabs and fish, but since then the tide has risen over the last 20 years by about two or three meters (up to 10 feet).”

The king is also in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and will address a leaders’ banquet on Friday.

Colonialism and climate

The legacy of the empire looms large at the meeting.

Commonwealth leaders will choose a new secretary-general nominated by an African country – in line with regional rotations of the position.

All three likely candidates have publicly called for reparations for slavery and colonialism.

One of the three, Joshua Setipa of Lesotho, told AFP the resolution could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate finance.

“We can find a solution that will begin to address some of the injustices of the past and put them in the context of what’s happening around us today,” he said.

Climate change is high on the agenda.

Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji backed calls for a “fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty” – essentially calling on Australia, Britain and Canada to do more to cut emissions.

Pacific leaders say the trio of “major countries” have historically been responsible for more than 60 percent of the 56-nation Commonwealth’s fossil fuel emissions.

Vanuatu’s special envoy on climate change, Ralph Regenvanu, called on other nations to join the treaty.

“As a Commonwealth family, we expect those who dominate fossil fuel production in the Commonwealth to stop fossil fuel expansion to protect what we love and value here in the Pacific,” he said.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her gas- and mineral-rich nation was working to be cleaner.

“We know we have a lot of work to do and I have been open with every partner in the Pacific,” she said.

The Pacific island nations – once seen as the epitome of palm-fringed paradise – are now among the most climate-threatened areas on the planet.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)