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.