King Charles will be travelling to Georgetown later this month, where he will embark on a series of high-level engagements to discuss key areas of bilateral cooperation between the United Kingdom and Guyana, including economic ties as well as collaboration on environment and sustainable development initiatives.
The visit is part of Their Majesties The King and Queen’s Autumn Tour to the Caribbean from October 27 to November 4.
During this time, the king will undertake a state visit to Guyana from Thursday, October 29, to Friday, October 30. The visit, at the invitation of the President of Guyana and at the request of the UK Government, comes as 60 years of bilateral relations between Guyana and the UK are being marked.
In a statement on Friday, Buckingham Palace said upon arriving in Georgetown, King Charles will meet President Dr Irfaan Ali at State House. Afterwards, they will attend a State Reception on the lawns of State House with representatives of communities in Guyana. The event will celebrate the 60-year strong bilateral relationship between Guyana and the UK.
The following day, the King will attend a reception with British businesses in Guyana and other local stakeholders to hear about their partnerships and investment in the country. The strong economic relationship between two countries will be spotlighted during the event.
Also on that day, King Charles, as a Patron of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), will join members of the Guyanese community, including veterans and senior Government officials, at the Georgetown (Rabbit Walk) Memorial to lay wreaths, commemorating the shared loss and sacrifice of British, Guyanese and Commonwealth forces.
The British Royal will also have the opportunity to meet elected leaders from the National Toshaos Council (NTC), which represents over 200 Amerindian communities across Guyana’s 10 administrative regions.
Nature and sustainability
The king will also tour a garden in Georgetown, during which he will hear about the park’s botanical features and ongoing conservation work within the city. His Majesty will then meet young Guyanese from various environmental clubs taking part in activities focused on sustainability and conservation.
His Majesty’s visit to Guyana will coincide with the second annual Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) Conference, slated for October 30 and 31. The King has already backed Guyana’s environmental leadership and its pioneering GBA initiative that seeks to curb biodiversity losses.
During the conference, King Charles will engage scientists, Indigenous community members and innovators to hear about their work on biodiversity, conservation and restoration.
Additionally, he will also be updated about the work of the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development, an organisation which manages roughly 371,000 hectares of tropical forest in Guyana. His Majesty has been Patron of this body since his visit to the local forest as Prince of Wales in February 2000.
The King will wrap up engagements in Guyana along the Georgetown seawall, where he will meet participants from the Wilton Park Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative Dialogue to hear about the practical steps being taken towards sustainable urbanisation ahead of 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Whilst at the seawall, His Majesty will also be apprised about the renewed focus on mangrove restoration and work being undertaken to replant mangroves that help protect Georgetown’s coastline and encourage wildlife to flourish.
Commonwealth conference
The British Royals’ Autumn Tour also includes a visit to the Bahamas and will end in Antigua and Barbuda, where Their Majesties will attend the CHOGM from November 1 to 4 in St John’s. The King is the head of the Commonwealth group of 56 nations – mainly former British colonies.
Under the theme: “Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth”, the conference will bring together leaders from the 56 Commonwealth countries, as well as representatives from business, civil society, and youth organisations.
Their Majesties’ visit to the Caribbean comes as regional leaders heighten calls for formal apologies and reparations to be paid over the British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The British Government has already ruled out any such payments. In fact, this issue is expected to be raised during their visit.
In fact, Buckingham Palace said, according to a Reuters article on Friday, that while reparations and apologies are issues for the British Government, King Charles, who is still the Head of State of both The Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, would not shy away from the topic during the upcoming CHOGM.
“There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons… The visit programme will therefore not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past’, as His majesty has described them, but – in keeping with the wishes of our host nations – it will principally be orientated to the vibrant present and promising future of each country,” a Palace spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted and sold into slavery by European merchants, with Britain responsible for transporting an estimated 3.2 million people, making it the second most active European nation after Portugal.
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