King Charles kicks off Bermuda visit

The King was greeted in Bermuda with a boat trip, dancing, and a slavery exhibition during his first visit to a British overseas territory as monarch.

Charles kicked off his official visit on Friday with a ceremony at the territory’s former capital St George’s, where a 21-gun salute heralded his arrival at the aptly named King’s Square, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The King was received by the Commanding Officer of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Simons, with the moment watched by hundreds of school children and islanders.

Many of the islanders had come prepared for the royal visit, with one little boy, Theo Godfrey, aged four, dressed like a guardsman in a red tunic and imitation bearskin hat.

His mother purchased the outfit from the official Buckingham Palace shop two years ago and joked: "He’s worn it ever since!”

Charles stood on a dais as the royal salute was given by the troops and remained motionless as the national anthem was played by a regimental band.

Parade Commander, Major Kenji Bean, then invited the King to inspect the guard of honour and he walked with Charles as he strode past the troops.

Charles then went to meet the crowds, shaking hands with well-wishers as the military band played Bob Marley and the Wailers song Jamming.

Later, he watched the release of an Atlantic seabird after being ringed and joked, “it’s bound to land on my head”.Charles then travelled to Trunk island, one of the many rocky outcrops around Bermuda, to chat to children being taught about conservation and wildlife through practical education, known as living classrooms, led by the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS).

The King planted a cedar tree, a native species that has been mostly lost from the island and which provided hurricane protection and other benefits.

He was also joined by a group of children as they watched three land hermit crabs being released and scuttling into the undergrowth after being moved from a development site that threatened them.

As well as being on land, the King joined Bermuda's coastguard in a boat trip, where he learned about their work combatting illegal fishing and smuggling.

He also travelled to the National Museum of Bermuda, where he viewed a display at the 1850 Ordnance House which traced darker moments in the island’s history, with a cabinet dedicated to trade, slavery and conquest.

It included a drawn image of shackled men sitting in a slave ship and several examples of neck irons.

There, he watched a performance of the island’s Gombey dance tradition, an expression of culture that had been restricted during slavery to just a few times a year.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli