Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla arrive on Thursday
The Prince of Wales who will represent the Queen of England at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held this week and the
Duchess of Cornwall will arrive in the island on Thursday.
The Office of the Head of CHOGM Press and Communications of the
British High Commission in Colombo announced that Prince Charles and
Duchess Camilla will be in Sri Lanka from November 14 to 16 and will
open the summit and host a customary dinner for the Commonwealth
leaders.
“Prince Charles is also scheduled to hold a number of meetings with
Commonwealth Heads and others on issues of importance to the
Commonwealth,” they said. The Queen who is now 87 will miss the 22nd
CHOGM since the Buckingham Palace is reviewing her long-haul travel. She
had missed the first Commonwealth Heads Meeting in 1971 and attended
every meeting from 1973 till 2011.
The High Commission said the Prince will visit the National Museum
and the British Council where he will open a new library building. He is
also expected to travel to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.
The announcement said he is to visit a mental health facility in
Nuwara Eliya.
The program of the Duchess of Cornwall includes visits to the Lady
Ridgeway Hospital for Children, the Colombo Public Library, a Home-Start
Lanka Satellite Centre and the Women In Need Colombo Crisis Centre.
Prince Charles has visited Sri Lanka twice before, in 2005 in the
aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami when he visited devastated coastal
areas in Batticaloa and in 1998 to celebrate the island’s 50th
independence anniversary. This will be the Duchess of Cornwall’s first
official visit to Sri Lanka.
The main Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held from
9.00 am on Friday to 5.00 pm on Sunday. The venues for the meeting will
be the BMICH and Waters Edge.
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