King Begins Bahamas Visit as the Caribbean Tour Gets Under Way

The King's autumn tour began today in the Bahamas, the first of three countries before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. He is there as King of the Bahamas, not as a guest, and will stay until Thursday.

The programme runs to Wednesday 4 November. After the Bahamas comes a state visit to Guyana on Thursday and Friday, at the invitation of President Irfaan Ali and at the request of the British government, marking 60 years of relations between the two countries. The King last went to Guyana in February 2000, as Prince of Wales. The Queen joins him in Antigua and Barbuda from Sunday for the national independence day and for CHOGM, which opens on 1 November in St John's.

Buckingham Palace has framed the whole tour around the themes of their public work: the environment, biodiversity, community resilience, young people and the Commonwealth. In each country they are due to meet community leaders, volunteers and people working on local resilience. The politics of the realms, where republican debate has not gone away, will travel with the itinerary whether or not it is on the printed programme.

What the three stops are for

In Guyana the King will meet President Ali at State House, then a garden reception for communities from across the country. As patron of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission he is due at the Georgetown memorial on Rabbit Walk, with veterans, to honour British, Guyanese and Commonwealth dead. He will meet the National Toshaos Council, see conservation work in the botanical garden, and on Friday sit with British and local businesses. The visit overlaps the Global Biodiversity Alliance conference. His last engagement is on the Georgetown seawall, on mangroves and sustainable cities.

Antigua and Barbuda marks 45 years of independence on Sunday. The King and Queen will attend a church service and the independence parade at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, where he will inspect the parade and meet sporting figures, including cricketers. There is a visit to Government House, a garden engagement, and a business forum at the Sticky Wicket. The King's own programme includes conservation. The Queen is due at a school and at the American University of Antigua on separate engagements, then at a session of the CHOGM Women's Forum.

The summit he opens as Head of the Commonwealth

CHOGM brings leaders, business, civil society and youth groups to St John's from 1 to 4 November. The theme is "Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth". The King, as Head of the Commonwealth, will take part in the opening ceremony and the dinner, and host a reception for new heads of government. The Queen will meet groups in Antigua working to end violence against women and girls.

He remains King of Antigua and Barbuda as well as of the Bahamas. The title there is Charles the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Antigua and Barbuda and of his other realms and territories, Head of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth itself includes republics. The visit is a royal tour of two realms and a state visit to a republic, then a summit that belongs to all 56.

Yesterday we set out why the tour mattered before he left. Today the first engagement is no longer a plan. He is back in Britain on 4 November, the day before the Bank of England's next rate decision, and a week after John Healey's Budget. The palace calendar and the Treasury calendar are, for once, not the same week.