THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL WILL HOST A RECEPTION AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE TO CELEBRATE THE COMMONWEALTH DIASPORA
Thursday 9th June 2022
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will host a Reception to celebrate the Commonwealth Diaspora of the United Kingdom ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda.
On arrival at Buckingham Palace, Their Royal Highnesses will meet celebrities, and well-known members of the diaspora community including, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the cast of “Small Island” (which played at the National Theatre. The Duchess of Cornwall is Patron of the National Theatre) and Eric Murangwa Eugene MBE, (Rwandan Genocide Survivor.) Their Royal Highnesses will also meet High Commissioners and representatives from various organisations associated with the Commonwealth. Members of Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, which was founded by His Royal Highness, will also be present.
The Chineke Orchestra String Quartet will play during the reception. The Quartet is made up of black and ethnically diverse classical musicians from the UK and Europe.
The reception celebrates and recognises the important contribution the Commonwealth diaspora provides within the United Kingdom.
There will be around 400-500 guests which will include High Commissioners, celebrities, members of society including those representing business, the arts, education, the N.H.S. and the charity sector and will include a number of organisations that Their Royal Highnesses are associated with.
Commonwealth
The Commonwealth is a vast community which embraces diversity among its 54 countries and over 2.5 billion people, of which 60 per cent are under 30 years old.
The Prince of Wales has been an active supporter of the Commonwealth for over fifty years. Together with The Duchess of Cornwall, His Royal Highness shows his support through official visits, military links, charitable activities and other special events such as the opening of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in New Delhi, India; in 2014 Glasgow, Scotland and in 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda during the week of 20th June. Their Royal Highnesses have just undertaken a tour of Canada from 17th – 19th May 2022.
The Prince has attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on five previous occasions – Edinburgh in 1997, Uganda in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2013 (where The Prince represented Her Majesty The Queen), Malta in 2015 and in the U.K in 2018. During the 2018 CHOGM in the UK, Commonwealth leaders formally announced that The Prince of Wales would succeed The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth.
CHOGM was due to have been held in Kigali in June 2020 but has been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 1969, The Prince has visited forty-six Commonwealth countries, many of them on several occasions. The Duchess of Cornwall has accompanied The Prince on many of his visits to Commonwealth countries and Her Royal Highness has visited twenty-four Commonwealth countries.
The Prince of Wales recorded a message to mark Commonwealth Day in 2021 on 8th March 2021, during the COVID Pandemic, during which he spoke of the importance of the Commonwealth.
For more information about The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit: www.princeofwales.gov.uk
