King Charles becomes Samoan ‘high chief’ and drinks narcotic kava at welcoming ceremony

King Charles III has taken part in a traditional kava-drinking ceremony before a line of bare-chested, heavily tattooed Samoans and been declared a “high chief” of his Pacific island realm.

The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa – the first major trip overseas since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year

Wearing a white safari-style suit, the 75-year-old king sat at the head of a carved timber longhouse on Thursday where he was presented with a polished half-coconut filled with a mildly narcotic kava brew

The peppery, slightly intoxicating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is known locally as “ava”. Australia’s former deputy prime minister was hospitalised after mistakenly drinking too much of a local brew at a similar ceremony in Micronesia in 2022.

The peppery, slightly intoxicating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is known locally as “ava”. Australia’s former deputy prime minister was hospitalised after mistakenly drinking too much of a local brew at a similar ceremony in Micronesia in 2022.

On Thursday, the kava roots were paraded around the marquee, prepared by the chief’s daughter and filtered through a sieve made of the dried bark of a fau tree.

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

Charles uttered the words: “May God bless this ava” before lifting it to his lips. The ceremony concluded with claps. Charles’s wife, Queen Camilla, sat beside him, fanning herself to ease the tropical humidity.

Many Samoans are excited to host the king – his first-ever visit to the Pacific Island nation that was once a British colony. The royal couple later visited the village of Moata’a, where Charles was made “Tui Taumeasina” or high chief.