The roads in Samoa are lined with the small fluttering flags of the Commonwealth.

Newly painted houses, bright under the cloudy skies, tell the story of the 56 countries of the “family of nations”, village after village decked out in the colours of each country in the most charming welcome to an international conference imaginable.

The King and Queen, freshly landed from Sydney via the Royal Australian Air Force, were swept through by convoy to the island’s finest beachside resort.

As they looked out the window, it is hard to imagine what they might have been feeling.

At the end of an occasionally bruising but ultimately successful first leg of their trip Down Under, and the start of the second, they are – against what seemed to be the odds – riding high.