The arrival of King Charles in the once former British colonial state of Samoa for the first time has prompted excitement with local residents ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting over the next two days.

But for most Pasifika nation states and other members in the Commonwealth family across the globe, the occasion has prompted uneasy questions about the role the British crown has played in the change of fortunes of its past territories.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is also the first time the former British colonies are attending the biennial gathering since a 2023 issued United Nations report recommended the United Kingdom's government should fork out colonial reparations to its current subjects.

The outcome on this topic from discussions in Samoa could determine whether the Commonwealth, in some parts of the colonised world seen as a 'vestige of an empire', has an uncertain future or not for the rest of the 21st century.

The report calculated that from under the direction of the Monarchy, the British should have to pay $A36.6 trillion to at least 14 nations after assessing historical evidence of its involvement in slavery.

A separate independent study from the UK, involving the Dean of Trinity College at Cambridge University, estimates costs of reparatory justice should be more in the range of a $A400 billion payout.

Either sums to satisfy the Commonwealth heads of government would not be subject to a binding legal agreement or judgement.

The reports over reparations are separate to the calls for the Crown to compensate the descendants of First Nations people in Australia, whose traditional ways of living were affected and displaced by colonisation.

The specifics of reparations vary, with some affected countries only calling for an apology.

Others, especially in the Caribbean, demand payments as compensation for their suffering.

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) Reparations Commission, however, has promised to push for a "full and formal apology" for slavery and work towards establishing a reparatory justice model.

The 56 Commonwealth members will choose and appoint the next secretary-general while in Samoa after the post has been held since 2016 by Briton Patricia Scotland.

The three candidates to become the organisation's next secretary-general – from African nations of Ghana, Lesotho and Gambia – urge the UK government to provide financial reparations over enslaving colonised people.

The Royal Family have previously expressed sympathies over the atrocity of slavery.

King Charles, most recently at the 2022 Commonwealth summit in Rwanda before he succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state, described his "profound sorrow" for the practice while Prince William during a royal visit to Jamaica in that same year said the trade in black lives as "abhorrent".

The spokesperson for UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, ruled out reparation payments days before CHOGM, while Starmer's fellow Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, in a renegade move said her government, acting on behalf of the Monarch, should be open to discussing them.

"The UK has both a moral and legal duty to address the injustices of the past," Riberio-Addy said.

"If reparations is on the agenda for Commonwealth countries, then the UK government must be willing to discuss it."

But Starmer's spokesperson said that was "not on the agenda" at the gathering in Samoa and has simply remarked previously "we do not pay reparations".

However, some Commonwealth heads of government are preparing to defy the UK's stance and agree to examine reparatory justice for the largely transatlantic slave trade with Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas leading the case.

Part of the current text of the draft summit communique – according to what has been made known to the BBC – in Samoa reads: "Heads, noting calls for discussions on reparatory justice … the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and a respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity."

It says the heads of government would play "an active role in bringing about such inclusive conversations addressing these harms".

Diplomats have hammered out the text – which Commonwealth heads could still change – ahead of the summit.

UK officials did succeed in blocking a plan for an entirely separate declaration on the matter.

They did not want any language in the communique about reparatory justice, but the UK are having to accept it will include three paragraphs setting out the Commonwealth's detailed position.

The communique also refers directly to the practices of "blackbirding", where in the Pacific, nearly all from Melanesian communities were tricked or kidnapped into slavery or for sometimes cheap labour in colonies throughout the British Empire, including the eastern parts of Australia to form the diaspora of South Sea Islanders that exist today.

Ahead of King Charles' coronation last year, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was one of the signatories across 12 countries sharing an open letter demanding King Charles apologise to First Nations people and compensate them for the effects of colonisation.

Senator Thorpe, just a day earlier, had heckled the King after also yelling out, "you are not my King" while also accusing the monarchy of having "committed genocide against our people" and trying to hand a notice of complicity in Aboriginal genocide during the parliamentary reception in Canberra.

"Give us our land back, give us what you stole," Senator Thorpe called out from the back of the room while security moved to escort the Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara Senator away.