Euphoric scenes arose as the British monarch met with locals during his State visit. The focus has shifted away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and all eyes have been on King Charles.

The royal visit is historic in many ways. King Charles III becomes the first British monarch to spend more than a day in Samoa. He met and mingled with people on the ground and left the nation as a Samoan high chief with titles from two villages.

King Charles also shook hands with scores of people. This is rare as the royal protocol is strict about contact with the monarch. Men usually bow and women offer a courtesy. Meanwhile, in Moataa, a lucky woman stole a royal kiss.

There were some embarrassing moments as well. A cabinet minister attempted to take a selfie with King Charles during the royal visit. The prime minister was present right there and this should lead to disciplinary action. Fiame Naomi Mataafa did give the minister the look of disapproval. To make things worse, the whole moment has been captured in a video and is now making the rounds and collecting comments, some very unpleasant ones.

Despite that, the royal visit has become etched in Samoan history and will be talked about for years to come. A special bond has been formed between the monarch and the people of Samoa. The visit has helped Britain sweep under the carpet the colonial wrongs and injustices. Something that will never be talked about even though there is a growing global movement seeking compensation for the wrongdoings.

We hope that King Charles enjoyed the Samoan hospitality, and the love he was offered and if God permits, makes another visit.

The main reason why King Charles was in Samoa was CHOGM. This was his first CHOGM as the head of the Commonwealth. He cancelled the New Zealand tour but remained steadfast in coming to Samoa, despite his health.

For two years, the only song sung by the government was CHOGM. More than $40 million later, CHOGM started last week and without much impact, it has fizzled away. Some villages that had played host to countries had their wishes come true as some countries paid a visit and soaked up the local culture.

The much-anticipated economic activity and busy town areas did not happen as delegates and officials went to meetings and headed back to their hotels. Only 33 of the 56 nations had their heads of government attend the meeting. The bigger nations had their foreign ministers or deputy prime ministers attend CHOGM. The New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon needed to attend following the navy ship disaster otherwise we would have seen our good friend Vavaosamanaia Winston Peters attend.

In 2022, the Australian prime minister snubbed the Rwanda meeting but is present in Samoa given the geopolitical tension over the Pacific.

This leads us to ask about the relevance of the CHOGM. It seems it is just a talk-fest with a broad outcome that is seldom followed through. According to the official theme, “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth”, member states would have “harnessed their strengths by building resilience, unlocking potential, leveraging the ‘Commonwealth Advantage’ and fostering a connected, digital Commonwealth.” We are yet to find out how this will happen.

As in previous CHOGMs, the resulting communiqué and leaders' statements offer an assortment of broad statements and platitudes. That’s hardly surprising – it would be remarkable if this group which counts more than a quarter of the world’s countries as members developed a detailed agenda of actionable outcomes.

Experts have termed CHOGM as a moribund summit of nations that share no true common objective.

The Commonwealth has been described as “the most useless international institution to which senior political leaders must commit time and energy and as an echo of history, a grouping too big to be meaningful and too small to matter.”

The Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland does not agree. She said the organisation's role was as a "family" uniting diverse nations as equals, regardless of size or wealth. She has argued that intra-Commonwealth will be at $950 billion this year, and by 2026 should be at $1 trillion.

Regardless the show rolled on in Samoa. Only time will tell if the communique and Apia Ocean Declaration hold any bite.

Thank you to all who were involved in hosting CHOGM and making the delegates feel at home away from home. The villages sacrificed and raised funds to spruce up without any returns and the people of this nation quietly watching the government use CHOGM as an excuse not to pay attention to things that matter.

Time to get back to business and things that matter to the people of Samoa.