King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to undertake a Caribbean tour this autumn, visiting The Bahamas, Guyana, and Antigua and Barbuda between October 27 and November 4.
The visit, announced by Buckingham Palace, will combine royal engagements with diplomatic and Commonwealth activities. It will be the King’s first visit to The Bahamas since becoming monarch and his first trip to Guyana as sovereign.
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The royal couple will begin the tour in The Bahamas, where Charles is head of state. The visit fulfils an intention he expressed in 2024 after he was unable to attend the country’s 50th Independence celebrations because of his cancer treatment.
From The Bahamas, King Charles will travel to Guyana for a state visit marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between Guyana and the United Kingdom. The visit is being made at the invitation of Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and at the request of the British Government.
The final stop will be Antigua and Barbuda, where Charles and Queen Camilla will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is scheduled for November 1-4 in St John’s.
As head of the Commonwealth, King Charles is expected to play a prominent role in the gathering of leaders from the organisation’s 56 member states. The meeting will focus on shared challenges, cooperation and development across the Commonwealth.
The tour will also provide opportunities to highlight Caribbean communities, culture, environmental conservation and the region’s relationship with the wider Commonwealth family. Buckingham Palace said the programme will celebrate “communities, cultures and nature” across the countries being visited.
The upcoming trip comes five years after Charles, then Prince of Wales, last visited the Caribbean. In 2021, he travelled to Barbados for the island’s transition to a republic, where he acknowledged the historical legacy of slavery and Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.
For Guyana, the visit carries particular diplomatic significance as the country marks six decades of bilateral relations with Britain. For The Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, both of which retain the King as their head of state, the tour will provide an opportunity for renewed engagement with the monarch.
The Caribbean tour is also expected to place the region firmly in the spotlight during a significant period for the Commonwealth, with leaders gathering to discuss the organisation’s future and its role in addressing economic, environmental and geopolitical challenges.
