Why King Charles will visit Kenya this year
By Kevin CheruiyotReports from Buckingham Palace indicate that King Charles III will visit Kenya before the end of the year to strengthen Britain’s ties with Commonwealth nations.
Kenya is one of 56 nations under the Commonwealth umbrella, most of which are former territories of the British Empire.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail and The Times, the King will visit Treetops Hotel in Aberdare National Park in Kenya, the place where his mother, Elizabeth II, learned of her role as Queen back in February 1952.
The coronation of Charles III and his wife Camilla took place at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, attracting thousands of people in the UK and around the world.
Charles III assumed the royal mantle in September last year following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
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The King’s visit to Kenya is expected to evoke memories of his mother, who was 25 when she visited the country.
“It will be a poignant moment. It will inevitably be a reminder of his young mother at the beginning of her reign. Now he is at the beginning of his, but he also has the advantage of experience. It will also be an important marker of his reign, underlining the importance he attaches to the Commonwealth,” an insider told the two British publications.
Before his coronation, when he was known as Prince Charles, the king visited Kenya with Princess Anne in February 1971.
President William Ruto was among the world leaders who attended the King’s coronation, reaffirming Kenya’s lost relationship with Britain.
President Ruto also attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
The King’s visit comes amid an outcry from a section of Kenyans affected by the colonial era, when they were evicted from their ancestral lands to make way for white settlers.
Some of the groups that took the British government to the European Court of Human Rights last year said crimes had been committed.
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