Prince of the Caribbean: Charles launches Commonwealth charm offensive
London — The Prince of Wales is embarking on his first trip to some of the Caribbean’s island nations for 45 years, as he cements his role as the next head of Commonwealth with an effort to charm wavering members.
The Prince, who will next week become the first member of the Royal family to officially set foot in Cuba, is to visit five Commonwealth countries during the 11-day tour, spending a day in each to meet local politicians, see the culture and undertake events about the environment.
It will be the first time he has been to Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis and Grenada since 1973, and follows the confirmation last year that he will follow the Queen as the next head of Commonwealth.
The trip will see the Prince visit several countries where the issue of republicanism has created “sound and fury”, with the then-prime minister of Barbados insisting in 2015 it would end its allegiance with the monarchy “in the very near future” with no results.
In 2009, St. Vincent and the Grenadines held a referendum for people to decide whether to keep the Queen and her successors as head of state, with the republican side losing with 43 per cent of the vote.
While affection for the Queen remains high throughout the Commonwealth, the Prince will now embark on his own mission to personally charm members and demonstrate the continuing relevance of the monarchy.
Other focuses will include youth opportunity, with the Prince’s Trust International now working in the Caribbean, and the preservation of local customs and heritage sites. By the end of the tour, which will see the Prince and Duchess of Cornwall land in the U.K. on March 28 just in time for a scheduled Brexit, they will have visited eight Commonwealth countries since the Prince of Wales was confirmed as the organisation’s next head in 2018.
The most controversial leg by some measure will be the four days spent in Cuba, where no serving prime minister or member of the Royal family has been in an official capacity.
When the trip was announced, Rick Scott, a Republican U.S. senator, issued a letter protesting the decision, saying: “A trip of this magnitude by the Crown provides unwarranted legitimacy to a dictatorship with a decades-long history of persecuting and imprisoning its defectors and repressing its people.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said: “Human rights is a subject that we discuss government-to-government with the Cubans. We’ve done so regularly over the years, and will continue to do so.”